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MAP 

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THE 

FROZEN NORTH 



AN ACCOUNT OF ARCTIC 
EXPLORATION FOR USE IN SCHOOLS 



BY 

EDITH HORTON 



) JO, )], * 

3 ■ ,1 o D 3 : 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1904 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

APR 14 1904 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS Cu XXo. No. 

I H- S ^ f 
COPY B 



Copyright, 1904, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 



PREFACE 

While abundant material has been put before children 
with the purpose of making them familiar with the history 
and industrial development of various parts of the known 
world, very little has been written to inform them of the 
work which is now being done in the comparatively un- 
known regions of the north, or of the history of the early 
discoveries which have led to it. 

The importance of the present determined search for 
the North Pole is admitted by all thoughtful people, and 
the subject is one which must increase in interest until the 
entire North Frigid Zone is correctly mapped and charted. 

Accounts of the pioneers in this work of discovery, of 
Franklin and of Kane, and in our own day of Nansen 
and Peary, are available only in such exhaustive works 
as are unsuitable reading for children, and which some- 
times tax the patience of the adult. Hence the work done 
by these intrepid explorers upon the American continent 
and north of it remains unstudied and unknown. 

It is hoped that this book may give our young people 
sufficient knowledge of the subject to enable them to read 
farther with intelligence, and that it may also inspire 
them with interest in the many expeditions that are being 
sent out. 

The descriptions of the strange people who inhabit 
these cold countries, their dress, their ways of living, 
their customs, and their manners, all interest the child, 



IV PREFACE 

and meet his natural desire to hear about other people 
than those living in the part of the world about him. 

No complete history has been attempted, but rather a 
series of sketches which, it is hoped, will enable the reader 
to appreciate the achievements of the brave men who 
have lent and are lending their best efforts to the task 
of unlocking and wresting from the Frozen North, the 
secrets so necessary for the advancement of science. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I 



I. Introduction 

II. Sir John Franklin. 1818 9 

III. Franklin's First Land Journey. 1819-1821 . . 14 

IV. Franklin's Second Land Journey. 1 825-1 827 . 21 
V. The Voyage of the Erebus and the Terror. 

1845 25 

VI. Elisha Kent Kane. 1853 32 

VII. Winter in Rensselaer Harbor. 1 853-1 854 . . 36 

VIII. The Eskimos. 1854 . . . . . . . .40 

IX. Hunting in the Icy North 45 

X. Home Again. 1855 5 1 

XL NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE. 

1878-1879 . 59 

XII. Voyage of the Jeannette. 1 879-1 881 . . 72 

XIII. Greely in Grinnell Land. 1881-1883 ... 81 

XIV. Farthest North of the Greely Party. 1882 . 87 
XV. Lieutenant Schwatka in Alaska. 1883 . . 94 

XVI. Nansen crosses Greenland. 1888 . . . .104 

•XVII. The Voyage of the Fram. 1893-1896 . . .122 

XVIII. Peary crosses Greenland. 1891-1897 . . .133 

XIX. Andree's Balloon Expedition to the Pole. 1897 149 

XX. Expeditions of 1902 . . ... . . -154 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



I. INTRODUCTION 

The north polar regions lie within the Arctic circle, 
and at their center is the North Pole. The distance from 
the circle to the pole is more than fourteen hundred miles. 
Intense cold and the hardships of ice navigation have made 
the discovery and exploration of this region very slow and 
hazardous. 

It is believed that Norsemen from Norway and Sweden, 
after colonizing Iceland, made settlements on the Green- 
land coast and carried their seal hunting beyond the Arctic 
circle, far into the polar regions. But in 1347 a plague 
broke out in Norway, and the people forgot their far-off 
colonies. For more than a hundred years after this no 
attempt was made to enter the Arctic circle. 

It is a singular fact that the famous voyage of Columbus 
in 1492, although made toward the south, should have 
influenced to some extent discovery in the north polar 
regions. After Columbus had really proved that the earth 
was round, navigators believed that by sailing westward 
far enough they might reach the rich lands of India and 
Cathay (China). 

The only route then known from Europe to India was 
through the Mediterranean Sea. At Constantinople, the 
cargoes of metals, woods, and pitch were unloaded and sent 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



on by caravan to the East, while returning caravans brought 
silks, dyewoods, spices, perfumes, precious stones, ivory, 
and pearls, to be shipped from Constantinople. 

When the Turks, through whose country the merchants 
passed, began to realize how valuable the Eastern trade 
was, they sent bands of robbers to seize the caravans, 
making traffic by this route more difficult and more dan- 
gerous as time went on; so that European merchants tried 

to find some other way of reach- 
ing that part of the world. 

John and Sebastian Cabot, two 
English navigators, set out in 
1497 to sail westward, but finding 
their way blocked by the Amer- 
ican continent, they returned. 
In 1498 Sebastian Cabot made a 
second voyage, with the object 
of finding a passage north of 
America which would lead to the 
Spice Islands and rich Cathay. 
In this way the long hunt for the 
northwest passage was begun. 
The Cabots did not find the northwest passage ; and 
though many voyages were made in search of it by other 
navigators during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
nobody met with success. The severe cold, added to the 
difficulties of a voyage through the ice of ages, prevented 
further investigation in that direction for some time. 

Meanwhile, the Spanish and the Portuguese had been 
active in seeking for southern routes to the East, and had 
discovered two, — one around the Cape of Good Hope and 
one through the Strait of Magellan. They guarded these 
waterways jealously, and would not allow the ships of 




Sebastian Cabot. 



INTRODUCTION 




The Earth on June 21. 



other nations to pass. Thus they succeeded in controlling 
all the rich Eastern trade, and were growing very wealthy 
and powerful. 

The English and the Dutch, who were also anxious to 
obtain a share of the rich commerce with the East, saw the 
importance of finding 
a northern route to 
India ; consequently 
they experimented by 
sailing northeast 
along the coast of 
Europe and Asia. 

The route which they .JOuthernmost^ays 
sought was known as 
the northeast passage. 

England sent out the first expedition in 1553, but the se- 
verity of the weather prevented the ships from making much 
progress. Several other vain attempts were made by the 
English, and then the Dutch took up the work; but they 
failed, too, and for a time the search for northern passages 

to the Indies was aban- 
doned. 

The total absence of the 
sun from the Arctic regions 
during a large part of each 
year makes the climate 
severe and the country 
desolate. Direct sun rays 
are necessary to insure 
warmth, and the regions 
within the Arctic circle receive at the best only slanting rays. 
In the temperate zones the sun is never exactly over- 
head. For people who live within the tropics it is over- 



NORTHERNMOST 
RAYS 




SOUTHERNMOST^ 
RAYS 



The Earth on December 21. 



4 THE FROZEN NORTH 

head twice every year. At all places along the equator 
the sun is overhead at noon on the 21st of March. Each 
day after, it comes overhead at noon at places farther 
north, until the 21st of June, when it is overhead at the 
tropic of Cancer. After this the sun appears to turn and 
go south, and on September 22 it is again overhead at 
noon at the equator. The sun then continues to move 
southward each day until December 21, when it is 

P 

^--- : -' -~^£' 

*/" ^^ 





Daily Motion of the Heavens as seen at the North Pole. 



overhead at the tropic of Capricorn. And so it goes back 
and forth the year round. 

While the sun is north of the equator, there is constant 
day somewhere within the Arctic circle ; when the sun is 
south of the equator, there is constant night somewhere 
within the Arctic circle. The farther a region is from the 
equator, the longer are the days and nights at different 
seasons of the year. At the pole there is a night of six 
months and a day of six months. The night is sometimes 
lighted by the moon and sometimes by the aurora borealis. 

There are but two seasons in the Arctic regions — a 



INTRODUCTION 



5 



long, cold winter and a short, dry summer. It is during 
the summer that the explorers do their work. Through- 
out the dark winter they can do nothing. Even in the 
summer, navigators meet with many perils, for Arctic 
navigation is not an easy matter. Besides the danger that 
the vessel may be frozen in an ice pack, or crushed between 
icebergs, the navigator is often blinded by fogs and snows, 
and has to face unknown tides and currents. 



s 



=- JJD 




Daily Motion of the Heavens as seen at the Equator. 

The vegetation within the Arctic circle is scanty. Dur- 
ing the summer the bright, warm sun causes the plants to 
spring up and grow rapidly. Willows, dwarf birches, and 
rush grasses are plentiful in some localities. In southern 
Greenland, and in some sheltered places along its western 
coast, yellow poppies and dandelions grow. Farther north 
only mosses and lichens are to be found, and beyond the 
moss line there is no trace of vegetation. 

Nevertheless there are plenty of animals in this land of 
ice and snow. The polar bear, Arctic fox, blue fox, wolf, 
ermine, reindeer, and musk ox are plentiful. Seals and 



6 THE FROZEN NORTH 

walruses come out of the water upon the ice, during the 
summer, to enjoy the sun, and thousands of snow buntings, 
auks, and eider ducks visit the shores of the cold seas to 
build their nests and catch food. When the summer of 
three months is over, nearly all outward signs of animal 
and vegetable life disappear and the entire landscape be- 
comes a dreary, white expanse. 

The inhabitants of this cold land are called Eskimos. 
They find it hard to get a living, and their dwellings 
are of the rudest and most primitive sort. Many of the 
tribes move from place to place, building their snow huts 
wherever game is most plentiful, but never going far inland, 
because fish forms a large part of their food. The Eskimos 
do not mind the bitter weather. They are quite accustomed 
to a temperature of 50 below zero. 

Within the Arctic circle are two principal areas of great 
cold, one in North America and one in Siberia. The mild- 
est winters are at Bering strait and in the Spitzbergen 
Sea, where there is usually open water. The former is 
affected by the warm Japan Current and the latter by the 
Gulf Stream. 

We have as yet learned but little about the icy North. 
Nearly three million square miles of our earth lie within the 
Arctic circle and are unknown to-day. Much more infor- 
mation must be gained before man can hope to understand 
the physical laws of this mysterious region. 

For a century and a half after the sailing ships of the 
sixteenth century had failed to find the northern passages 
to the East, little was done in the way of Arctic exploration. 
The whale and cod fishers were the only navigators who 
ventured into the frozen seas. These fishermen carried on 
a profitable business in fish and oil. One of them, a Scotch 
whaler named William Scoresby, succeeded in driving his 



8 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



ship as far north as latitude 8 1° 12' 42". He spent all the 
time that he could spare on this voyage in collecting in- 
formation about this unknown part of the earth, and on 
his return to England, he told such wonderful stories that 
the English people became once more interested in the 
frozen North. 

Accordingly, in 181 5, after England's wars with the 
United States and France were over, the government 
offered a reward of ,£20,000 to any one who would make 
the northwest passage, and a reward of ^5000 to any one 
who would reach 89 north latitude. This offer of prize 
money stirred the adventurous blood of seafaring men. In 
1 8 18 two expeditions were sent out, and others quickly 
followed. 

The vast area of unexplored space within the Arctic 
circle stimulated men's imaginations almost as much as 
the Western world beyond the Atlantic had done in the 
days of Columbus. Many a brave sailor was ready to 
undertake the difficult work. Famous among those who 
did valuable service was Sir John Franklin. 




The Change of Seasons. 



II. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 
1818 

Sir John Franklin was one of the greatest explorers 
the world has ever known. We owe to him most of our 
knowledge of the northern 
coast of America and of the 
far North. 

Franklin was born in 1786 
at Spilsby, a small town in 
Lincolnshire, England, about 
ten miles from the coast. 
As a boy, he one day visited 
the seaside, which so de- 
lighted him that he then and 
there made up his mind to 
be a sailor. 

Franklin's parents wished 
, . , , , Sir Tohn Franklin. 

him to become a clergyman, 

and in the hope of curing him of his new passion, they 
sent him on a trial voyage. This plan did not succeed, for 
the young man learned to love the sea so much that at 
last the father yielded to his son's desire, and obtained 
a position for him in the Royal Navy. While in the 
navy, John Franklin took part in several of the hardest 
naval battles the English ever fought. He made a bril- 
liant record as a fearless sailor and a wise and determined 
leader. 




IO 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



After the wars were over, Franklin began the study of 
science. But land life was dull for him, and he longed for 
the dangers and excitement of the sea. When word came 
that he had been chosen by the government to go in search 
of the North Pole, he was unspeakably happy. Soon two 
strong vessels were ready for the voyage. The command 
of the Dorothea was given to Captain Buchan, while Frank- 




Glacier, English Bay, Spitzbergen. 



lin, with the rank of lieutenant, was put in command of the 
Trent. Their orders were to proceed northward between 
the islands of Spitzbergen and Greenland, and if they 
found the sea free from ice, to push ahead directly for the 
North Pole. Should they succeed in finding the pole, they 
were, if possible, to return by way of Bering strait, and thus 
prove the existence of a northwest passage. 

The ships sailed out of the Thames river April 25, 18 18. 
On May 10 they crossed the Arctic circle, and Franklin 



SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 



I I 



beheld for the first time the grand spectacle of the midnight 
sun. Shortly after the ships had crossed the circle, a terrible 
gale arose. The weather was bitterly cold, the snow came 
down fast, blinding the eyes of the sailors, and ice covered 
the brigs from bow to stern. Every time the bows came up 
out of the water a fresh layer of ice was formed upon them, 
and the vessels became so heavy that the sailors were obliged 



;■,'■■'•'{■:■:/ >**-- > *&rrl 



£S- 




A Ship in the Ice Pack. 



to chop the ice away with axes. The ropes also were frozen 
over, and in order to keep them ready for instant use, the 
sailors had continually to beat off the ice with sticks. The 
ice pack extended on all sides as far as the eye could reach, 
and little by little it closed around the ships. 

Notwithstanding this, they managed to enter a bay on 
the coast of Spitzbergen, where Captain Buchan decided to 
remain until the pack should break up. Neither officers 
nor men were idle while at anchor in this bay. Some sur- 



12 THE FROZEN NORTH 

veyed the harbor and made a map of it, while others meas- 
ured the depth of the water with instruments which they 
had brought for that purpose. The magnetic needle was 
closely watched, and all its changes noted. Many went 
hunting and supplied the crew with meat of the seal and 
walrus. Meantime a close watch was kept upon the ice 
pack. 

Franklin learned to like the rugged Arctic scenery. 
Close to the shores of Spitzbergen were long, snow-covered 
valleys and high mountains, and between the mountains 
stood immense glaciers, glistening in the bright sunlight 
which had so little power to melt their surfaces. 

One day Buchan and Franklin were in a small boat at 
the foot of a glacier. Suddenly they heard a noise like 
the report of a great cannon, and looking up, they saw a 
portion of the glacier sliding down the mountain side. 
This great mass of ice made a grinding noise as it went, 
and streams of water flowed after it. At length it plunged 
into the sea and disappeared from view. The water was 
greatly disturbed and covered with foam. In a few 
moments the huge piece of ice rose to the surface and 
surged up to a great height above the sea. Then Franklin 
and his companion knew how icebergs are formed. This 
one was a quarter of a mile around, and rose sixty feet 
above the water. It must have weighed millions of tons. 

Franklin was now more anxious than ever to get to the 
pole. He knew that thousands of years ago a part of 
America and Europe was covered with ice just as the 
Arctic regions now are, and he felt sure that if he remained 
long enough in this land he would be able to explain many 
things heretofore unknown, in regard to climate, soil, tides, 
and winds. 

Soon the ships, headed toward the north, put to sea 



SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 



13 



again, but a furious gale arose, and they were once more 
caught in the ice pack. When the wind went down, the 
Dorothea was so badly damaged as to be almost unsea- 
worthy, and Captain Buchan decided to turn back. The 
Trent also had been injured, but Franklin tried hard to 
induce Captain Buchan to allow him to go northward 




Icebergs in the Polar Sea. 

alone. Captain Buchan refused, and both vessels accord- 
ingly returned to England, where they arrived safely on 
October 12, 18 18. We must not regard this expedition 
as a failure, even though the pole remained undiscovered, 
for Franklin had gained the experience which later enabled 
him to accomplish valuable geographical work in the 
Arctic regions. 



III. FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND JOURNEY 

1819-1821 

The next year the British government again decided 
to send two ships northward. One of these ships was 
put in command of Lieutenant Parry and was ordered to 
Lancaster sound. From this place Parry was told to 
sail westward and seek the northwest passage. He did 
not find the northwest passage, but he succeeded in sailing- 
inside of the Arctic circle farther west than any one had 
gone before. For this achievement he received a prize of 
^5000 from the government and on his return to England 
was highly honored. 

The other expedition was put in command of Sir John 
Franklin, who, together with four companions, was to 
proceed to Hudson bay on one of the ships belonging to 
the Hudson Bay Company. From Hudson bay, Franklin 
was to make a land journey by means of sledges and 
canoes across the northern part of North America, to the 
mouth of the Coppermine river. From this point, he 
was to turn and follow the coast of North America east. 
The latitude and longitude of various places were to be 
noted, maps to be drawn, and capes, bays, and rivers 
located and surveyed. 

At this time that part of North America which borders 
on the Arctic ocean had never been explored. Only two 
white men, employees of the Hudson Bay Company, had 
ever looked upon this ocean from the continent of North 

H 



FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND JOURNEY 15 

America. The first, Samuel Hearne, traveled northward 
with the Indians in 1770, and reached the mouth of a large 
river which was named the Coppermine, because the Indians 
said that large mines of copper were to be found along its 
banks. 

The second explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, in 1789 
traced to its mouth the river which now bears his name. 
With the exception of these two river mouths, the entire 
northern coast of North America was unknown. The map 
which is to-day covered with names of places, was then a 
blank. 

This was the region which Franklin was to explore. 
Many men would dread such a journey, but Franklin liked 
it because of the very dangers involved. Dr. John 
Richardson, midshipmen .Robert Hood and George Back, 
and a seaman, John Hepburn, were selected to go with 
Franklin on this trip; they were well chosen, for they were 
worthy companions of the young leader. On May 23, 18 19, 
he and his men sailed on the Prince of Wales for the Arctic 
land. The voyage was long and stormy ; several times it 
seemed likely that the Prince of Wales would never touch 
land again, but at the end of three months she anchored 
off York Factory, on the southern shore of Hudson bay, 
one of the posts built by the Hudson Bay Company for 
the purpose of trading in furs with the Indians. 

The people at York Factory received Franklin and his 
companions kindly and helped them all they could. They 
gave Franklin a boat for his journey through the lakes 
and rivers on his way to the sea. The same sort of boat 
is still in use in that region and is called a York boat. 
It is forty feet in length, narrow, light, and sharp at both 
ends. About ten men can manage it. When on lakes or 
traveling down streams the men use oars, but when travel- 



16 THE FROZEN NORTH 

ing against the current of a river they run alongshore and 
drag the boat after them. This long and narrow boat is 
well suited for shooting rapids, through which it is guided 
by means of long poles. Sometimes the rapids are so swift 
that they cannot be navigated, and falls are often encoun- 
tered. Then the cargoes are taken out of the boats and 
carried around the rapids or falls, and afterward the boats 
also are carried around. Such a place is called a portage. 

The officers of the Hudson Bay Company, besides giv- 
ing Franklin a boat, sent word to other trading posts 
throughout the country, to look out for him and to help 
him. The party, having secured boats and stores, started 
from York Factory to continue their journey. After travel- 
ing seven hundred miles, they reached another post called 
Cumberland House, where Franklin expected to find guides 
and hunters, but every one refused to undertake a journey 
so full of peril. 

Franklin, though disappointed, was not discouraged. 
He left two men at Cumberland House to wait for sup- 
plies and to bring them on. Then, with Back and Hep- 
burn, he started out with dog sledges for another trading 
post on Lake Athabasca. This journey was begun on 
January 18, 1820, in the middle of an Arctic winter of 
prolonged darkness. The suffering of these three ex- 
plorers cannot be described. The temperature fell as low 
as 38 below zero, blizzards were common, and the party 
nearly perished. On some days the mercury froze in the 
thermometers, and the tea froze in the tin pots before it 
could be drunk. 

At Lake Athabasca Franklin was joined by the men he 
had left at Cumberland House. They had secured some 
provisions, and now the entire party proceeded down the 
Slave river to Great Slave lake. They reached Fort 



FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND JOURNEY 



17 



Providence, on the northern 
the latter part of July, and in 
pany departed in four canoes, 
country which had never before 
Soon Franklin met seventeen 
who had promised to go part 



end of the lake, during 
a few days the little corn- 
steering northward into a 
been visited by white men. 
canoes filled with Indians, 
of the way with him and 




A Post of the Hudson Bay Company. 

hunt game for his party. They all proceeded together 
through a chain of lakes to Winter lake, where they de- 
cided to pass the winter. Here they built a house which 
they called Fort Enterprise, and from this place they made 
short trips to explore the country northward. One of the 
exploring parties reached the source of the Coppermine river. 
At first game was plentiful at Fort Enterprise, but as 
winter advanced the reindeer left the place, provisions 
became scarce, and ammunition was very low. Back offered 



1 8 THE FROZEN NORTH 

to return to Lake Athabasca for supplies, and Franklin 
allowed him to go. He left the party in November, and 
they did not see him again until March. He had made a 
journey of eleven hundred miles on snowshoes, sleeping 
in the shelter of drifts, wrapped in a blanket and a deerskin, 
and had sometimes been forced to go without food for two 
or three days. But he had saved the party. 

When spring came, Franklin and his company started 
northward again with two large canoes and several sledges. 
They must have " made a record " for slow travel, for each 
man had to carry or drag a load of one hundred and eighty 
pounds, probably more than the weight of any one of them. 
At the Coppermine they launched their canoes, and were 
soon shooting dangerous rapids, and carrying their boats 
over the portages. Franklin did not stop to search for cop- 
per ; he had other aims. 

On July 1 8, 1821, the party reached the mouth of the 
Coppermine and camped on the shore of the Arctic ocean. 
It was a cold place for a camp, but the men were so de- 
lighted to reach this point that they did not complain of 
the temperature. 

Franklin here paid a tribute to famous travelers, and 
to some of his old friends, by naming the capes and bays 
after them. This might be called a cold compliment, but 
doubtless the favored ones appreciated it. 

The great ocean must have seemed to these men the 
end of their journey, yet it was only the beginning. On 
July 21 the canoes were launched and one of the most 
daring voyages of exploration was begun that has ever 
been attempted. Canoes built for use only on lakes and 
rivers had now to battle with rough waters filled with ice. 
For several weeks Franklin kept on his perilous way east- 
ward, discovering new islands, bays, and capes. 



FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND JOURNEY 19 

As freezing weather had already set in, and the provisions 
showed signs of giving out, Franklin decided to return to 
Fort Enterprise and spend the winter there, hoping to 
continue his work along the coast the next summer. 

He named the place where he decided to return Point 
Turnagain. The distance from the Coppermine to Point 
Turnagain is five hundred and fifty miles, and all that 
length of coast was traversed and charted by Franklin's 
company. 

It was decided to go back to Fort Enterprise by way of 
the Hood river, because that route was thought easier 
than the other; it proved to be more difficult. Much of 
the journey had to be made on foot over a stony country. 
The men were loaded down with boats, tents, and blankets, 
and, worst of all, the provisions gave out. All that the 
adventurers could find to eat was a kind of lichen, which 
grew like moss on the rocks. Often the men were wet to 
their waists from having to ford streams and tramp through 
swamps. 

After a time they became so weak and footsore that 
they could scarcely walk, and when at last they reached 
Fort Enterprise they found it deserted. The Indians who 
had promised Franklin to remain and stock the place 
with food for him, had abandoned the fort. This was a 
terrible blow. Those of the party who were able to walk, 
started out to search for the Indians, while the rest re- 
mained in the hut, expecting death every moment. While 
these men sat waiting, they saw a herd of reindeer pass 
close to the hut. Not a man was strong enough to stand 
and shoot, and the deer passed undisturbed. At last some 
Indians arrived. They brought plenty of venison with 
them, and they stayed with the white men and nursed 
them back to health. 



20 THE FROZEN NORTH 

When the sick men were able to travel, the party started 
again for Hudson bay. They succeeded in reaching 
Moose Deer island, and there, under the care of the Hud- 
son bay officials, Franklin and his followers grew well and 
strong. 

When they came again to York Factory, Franklin and his 
men had traveled 5550 geographical miles and explored 
thousands of miles of country never before visited by civi- 
lized men. This journey is one of the most remarkable 
in history. Only men of the highest courage and the 
strongest determination could have accomplished it. 

When Franklin reached England his countrymen be- 
stowed upon him honors of all sorts. He was promoted 
to the rank of captain, and made Fellow of the Royal 
Geographical Society. 



IV. FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND JOURNEY 

1825-1827 

After Franklin had been at home about two years, he 
began to feel restless and to long for action. About this 
time the English government decided to send Parry, for 
the third time, in search of the northwest sea passage. 

Franklin advised that another land party be sent at the 
same time to the mouth of the Mackenzie. There, he 
thought, the party should divide, one branch of it to ex- 
plore the coast of North America east to the Coppermine 
river, the other to go westward to Icy cape. Then the entire 
northern coast of North America would have been covered, 
and the land party might meet and assist Parry. The gov- 
ernment decided to adopt Franklin's plan, and when he 
begged to be allowed to command this expedition, granted 
his request, and more than this, permitted him to make 
all arrangements for the expedition. He first ordered 
three boats to be built which should be suitable for travel 
on both rivers and lakes, as well as on the Arctic ocean. 
They must combine light weight with great strength. 
In 1824 Franklin sent these boats, filled with stores and 
provisions,, to Great Bear lake in charge of the Hudson 
Bay Company; and on February 16, 1825, he and his 
officers sailed. 

They traveled through the United States and Canada to 
Great Bear lake, where they halted for a few days for 
the purpose of bargaining with the Indians for supplies 



22 THE FROZEN NORTH 

of food during the winter. Then the party embarked in 
canoes and steered for the Mackenzie river. 

As the Mackenzie is broad and smooth and without 
rapids, they quickly reached Fort Norman, the most north- 
ern Hudson bay post on the river. It was now early in 
August, and only a few weeks were left in which to build 
winter quarters and to lay in a stock of provisions. A 
place on Great Bear lake was chosen for their village, and 
Lieutenant Back was given charge of the work of prepa- 
ration. 

Meanwhile Franklin pushed on to the mouth of the Mac- 
kenzie. He wished to examine the coast so that he might 
know just what was needed for travel along that route when 
spring should come. He found it was an easy journey in his 
new boat, and when he came to the sea he saw to his joy 
that it was free from ice and full of seals and whales. 
When he had made himself acquainted with the character 
of the coast around the mouth of the river, he returned to 
the camp on Great Bear lake. 

He found that during his absence his companions had 
named the post Fort Franklin in his honor, and very 
comfortable arrangements had been made for the winter. 
Three houses were ready, one for the officers, one for 
the seamen and Indians, and one for supplies. There 
were now fifty persons in the party : five officers, nineteen 
seamen, nine Canadians, two Eskimos, and the rest Indians, 
including men, women, and children. They were a mixed 
company, truly, but they passed the season pleasantly to- 
gether. The officers worked hard collecting important 
facts about the water, ice, animals, mosses, weather, 
and sky. They also took charge of a school, which 
Franklin insisted upon maintaining for the Indians and 
the Eskimos. Attendance at this school was compulsory, 



FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND JOURNEY 23 

and you may be sure all the pupils preferred hunting and 
fishing. The seamen turned carpenters and built boats. 

No one was sorry when spring came and the journey 
could be continued. On June 24, 1826, the company 
divided into two parties and started down the Mackenzie 
river. At the mouth of the river they separated ; one 
party under command of Franklin proceeded to the west, 
the other party under Dr. Richardson, to the east. Each 
had provisions enough to last from eighty to one hundred 
days. 

Franklin and his men soon fell in with an Eskimo tribe 
numbering about three hundred. These Eskimos proved 
themselves such thieves that it seemed likely that they 
might presently murder Franklin. and his companions and 
take all they had. Lieutenant Back ordered the men in 
his boat to point their muskets at the Eskimos ; where- 
upon they ran away and left the white men in peace. 

The journey along the coast was made through blocks 
of ice, heavy fogs, and high winds, with a temperature 
often below freezing. Yet this was midsummer! 

But the party kept bravely on their way, taking observa- 
tions of the sun, watching the magnetic needle of the com- 
pass, studying tides, stones, plants, and animals. Among 
the greatest hardships that the men suffered were attacks 
from swarms of mosquitoes ; they dreaded these more than 
cold or ice packs. 

After three hundred and seventy-four miles of coast had 
been explored, Franklin decided that if he continued the 
journey, he would not have enough provisions. They had 
made half the distance between the mouth of the Macken- 
zie river and Icy cape. To the most western point visited, 
they gave the name Beechey point. On returning to 
Fort Franklin they found that the other party, led by 



24 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Dr. Richardson, had also made a successful journey, having 
explored eight hundred and sixty-three miles of coast line 
between the mouth of the Mackenzie and the mouth of the 
Coppermine, and traveled nineteen hundred and eighty 1 
geographical miles. 

The success of these two explorations put the company 
in good spirits, and the following winter of 1826 was passed 
pleasantly at Fort Franklin. Franklin started for home 
in February, and reached England September 26, 1827, 
after an absence of two years and seven months. 

Two months after his arrival he married Jane, daughter 
of John Griffin, Esq. This lady, Franklin's second wife, 
was a very remarkable woman, of whom we shall hear 
more. 

All England was delighted with the results of this 
second land journey. Franklin and Richardson together 
had surveyed 37 of longitude along the Arctic shore of 
North America. The coast from the mouth of the Copper- 
mine westward to Beechey point had been proved to be 
open for navigation, while from Beechey point to Icy cape 
it was undoubtedly open. 

To complete a northwest passage it was only needful 
to find a gap to the eastward, connecting this pathway 
for ships with the older discoveries on the Atlantic side. 
Over one thousand miles of American coast had been 
explored, maps and charts had been made, and knowledge 
in all branches of science had been increased. 

The honor of knighthood was conferred upon Captain 
Franklin, who was afterward to be known as Sir John 
Franklin. Parry's expedition in search of the northwest 
passage had been unsuccessful. 

1 Franklin's own book gives 1989 miles. Greely's Hand Book gives 1709 
miles. 



V. THE EREBUS AND THE TERROR 

1845 

At this time, 1827, England, under the rule of George IV, 
was occupied with her own troubles. The disputes be- 
tween Catholics and Protestants engaged the attention 
of the English people so that interest in exploration waned. 
After a short rest at home, Sir John Franklin was sent in 
command of her Majesty's ship, Rainbow, to the Mediter- 
ranean sea. The Greek war of independence was closing, 
and Franklin distinguished himself by the judgment and 
skill he showed in following out the work intrusted to him. 

Upon his return to England, Franklin was offered the 
position of Governor of Tasmania, which he accepted, re- 
maining there seven years. When he returned again to 
England in 1842, he found people once more interested in 
the discovery of the northwest passage. It was eighteen 
years since Franklin had returned from the icy North, but 
the northwest passage had not been found. During those 
years several expeditions had been at work in the northern 
part of North America and along the northern coast, thus 
broadening and increasing the geographical knowledge 
of the country first entered by Franklin. But the mystery 
of the northwest passage still stirred men's imaginations, 
and the Royal Geographical Society decided to send out 
another expedition in search of it. The command of this 
expedition was offered to Sir John Franklin. 

Some people thought that Franklin ought not to go 

25 



26 THE FROZEN NORTH 

again to the northern land. These people told him that 
he had already done enough for his country, having risked 
his life three times, and made more discoveries in that 
region than any other man. They reminded him that he 
was now sixty years of age, and ought to be willing to 
remain at home and let a younger man undertake this 
hard and dangerous journey. 

But Franklin rejoiced at the thought of seeing the far 
North again. He declared that he was only fifty-nine years 
of age, and that the discovery of the northwest passage 
was the object nearest his heart. Two ships, called the 
Erebus and the Terror, were given Franklin for this voyage. 
These ships, propelled by steam screws, were the first 
vessels of the kind ever used in the Arctic seas. It was 
thought that the use of the steam screw instead of the 
paddle wheel would prove of great value to navigators in 
seas where ice packs and heavy gales were constantly to be 
feared. Great results, then, were expected from the expe- 
dition fitted out in this improved manner. Franklin himself 
took command of the Erebus, while Captain Crozier was 
given command of the Terror. Sufficient provisions were 
put aboard the vessels to provide for an absence of three 
years, and nothing was left undone that promised to insure 
the safety and success of the expedition, or to promote the 
health and comfort of the explorers. 

The ships sailed from England on May 19, 1845. The 
men were in good spirits and hopeful. They sailed north 
toward Lancaster sound, and on the 26th of July, 1845, a 
whaling vessel, called the Prince of Wales, sighted them in 
Melville bay, stuck fast in the ice. The captain of the 
whaler received a visit from some of the exploring party, 
and was invited to dine with Franklin, but a breeze sprang 
up suddenly, and the ships parted company. 



THE EREBUS AND THE TERROR 



27 



That was the last time the Erebus and the Terror, or 
any of the men aboard those vessels, were ever seen. 
They appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth. 

When the Erebus and Terror had been absent two years, 
and no news of them had been heard, many expeditions 
were sent out to hunt for them. Some traces of the ships 
were discovered, and it is believed that the vessels sailed 
northward through Lancaster sound to Beechey island, 




[n Winter Quarters. 



where they wintered (1 845-1 846). On this island were 
found the graves of two seamen marked with headboards 
showing the date of their death. 

It is thought that when spring came, the ships were 
released from the ice and proceeded southward toward 
King William's Land. While near to King William's 
Land the vessels were probably again caught in the pack. 
The second winter, with its long, dark night, bitter cold, 
and absence of proper food, must have been a gloomy one 
for these poor men. 



28 THE FROZEN NORTH 

If they were still alive when spring came, how they must 
have hoped each day for the freeing of the ships ! As 
the days passed and spring grew to summer, summer to 
autumn, yet with no prospect of release from the cruel 
pack, the situation became hopeless and intolerable. 

All this misery came upon them with greater force 
because success was so near. Franklin knew that a dis- 
tance of but one hundred miles separated him from the 
object of his search. Almost within reach of the goal, 
here he was, locked in ! 

Though the ice did not break up, yet during the spring 
(May 24, 1847) Franklin sent a party under the command 
of Lieutenant Graham Gore to explore King William's 
Land. This party reached Cape Herschel, a point on the 
southern coast of King William's Land, and in the dis- 
tance saw the continent of North America. 

A navigable passage was known to exist along the 
northern coast of America from Boothia to Bering strait. 
Franklin himself and Richardson had discovered and sur- 
veyed the greater part of this extent of country. 

Franklin had succeeded in reaching King William's 
Land by entering the Arctic from the Atlantic. Thus the 
discovery of the northwest passage was reduced to the 
finding of a link which should connect these two known 
waterways. This link was found by Graham Gore, when 
from Cape Herschel he saw the American coast across a 
narrow channel of water. So the credit of the discovery 
of the northwest passage must be given to Franklin. Had 
it not been for the fact that his ships were beset in the ice, 
Franklin would, without doubt, have sailed in 1846 from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific along the northern coast of 
North America. 

As it was, Lieutenant Gore's discovery connected the 



THE EREBUS AND THE TERROR 29 

two known passages and established the fact that an open 
waterway existed. Gore wrote a brief record of what his 
party had accomplished and left it on the island, where 
it was found years later by men who were searching for 
Franklin ; but neither Franklin nor any of his heroic band 
lived to tell in person the news of the discovery. 

When Gore returned to the Erebus he found Sir John 
very ill. He probably came in time to inform Franklin that 
the northwest passage had really been discovered. Let us 
hope so. Franklin passed peacefully away June 11, 1847. 
He had lived a good life and left a glorious name behind 
him. 

Captain Crozier of the Terror now took command of the 
expedition. The prospect of a third winter in the ice made 
the bravest of the men shrink, but it was too late in the 
season for them to leave the ships. To do so would have 
been certain death. It is best not to try to picture the 
misery of the third winter. 

In the spring of 1848 there were one hundred and five 
men still living. These half-starved creatures decided to 
leave the ships and travel by sledges to the North Ameri- 
can coast, where they hoped to meet some Indians who 
would give them food and guide them to the Hudson Bay 
settlements. Their dreadful march has been traced along 
the western coast of King William's Land, and perhaps a 
few of the party reached the southern end of that island. 

A number of Eskimos saw and camped with some of 
them, but would not remain, fearing that there was not 
sufficient food for all. There is no doubt that food gave 
out entirely, and that the men died of starvation. Many 
years later an old Eskimo woman reported having seen 
a party of white men traveling to the south. She said, 
"They fell down and died as they walked along." It is 



30 THE FROZEN NORTH 

inspiring to think of the heroism of these brave men who 
discovered the northwest passage. Their patience, per- 
severance, and devotion to their work deserve our highest 
admiration. 

In 1847, when, after two years of waiting, no news of 
the Erebus or the Terror came to England, great anxiety 
was aroused and many searching expeditions were sent 
out. Lady Franklin offered a reward of ,£2000 to any 
one who would bring her news of her husband or his com- 
panions. Her courage and her determined efforts to trace 
the lost vessels aroused the sympathy of the world. Lady 
Franklin spent her entire private means in the search, 
and it is largely owing to her efforts that we have any 
knowledge at all of her husband's accomplishment and of 
his final fate. 

The English government also offered a large reward to 
any one who would find the lost ships or crews. In the 
autumn of 1850 there were fifteen vessels in the Arctic 
ocean, hunting for Franklin and his ships. America joined 
England in the search, and as a result the Arctic regions 
became far better known than ever before. 

Several of these expeditions discovered traces of Frank- 
lin. McClintock found the most important records. He 
erected on Beechey island a marble slab which was sent 
out by Lady Franklin in memory of her husband and his 
brave companions. 

If you should go to London, you would find in Waterloo 
Place another monument erected to the memory of Frank- 
lin. There is still another at his home in Spilsby. Lady 
Franklin also erected a monument to her husband in 
Westminster Abbey. 

Although Sir John Franklin deserves the credit of the 
discovery of the northwest passage, the first man who 



THE EREBUS AND THE TERROR 



51 



passed through this passage from the Pacific to the At- 
lantic was Sir Robert McClure, who made the voyage in 
1854. McClure was sent to search for Franklin, and 
entered the Arctic ocean through Bering strait. Being 
obliged to abandon his ship, he, together with his crew, 
crossed the ice of Barrow strait by sledge, where a relief 
party met them. This was the first and only expedition 
that ever made the northwest passage, which, for purposes 
of trade, is useless. 




^ : ''^SSUi: 



Relics of the Franklin Expedition. 



VI. ELISHA KENT KANE 



r853 




One of the most famous efforts to find Sir John Franklin 
was made by an American, Mr. Henry Grinnell, of New York 

City. From his own private 
means he furnished ships 
and most of their equipment 
for two separate expeditions. 
The first Grinnell expedi- 
tion, under the command of 
Lieutenant De Haven, was 
sent out in 1850. It reached 
Beechey island on August 
27 of the same year, and 
assisted in the examination 
of Franklin's winter quarters 
there, but returned without 
wintering. 

The second Grinnell expedition went out three years 
later. This was commanded by a man who became almost 
as famous as Sir John Franklin himself, Elisha Kent Kane. 
Kane had been with De Haven in 1850, and thoroughly 
understood the work of Arctic exploration. He liked the 
wild, exciting life, and he had an ardent desire to find the 
brave men who had been lost, and to bring them home 
with him. 

32 



Elisha Kent Kane. 



ELISHA KENT KANE 



33 



Kane's plan was to pass up Baffin bay as far north as 
it was possible to drive the ship. From that point he 
intended to proceed by boats or sledges toward the pole, 
examining the coast lines along the way for traces of the 
lost party. 

The strongly built bark Advance was selected for this 
journey, and Kane set sail from New York with seventeen 
companions, in May, 1853. After a month the Advance 
reached Fiskernaes, a town on the Greenland coast, in- 




Fiskenaes, Greenland. 

habited chiefly by Eskimos. To these people a ship was 
a very unusual sight, and they swarmed upon the rocks to 
gaze at the strange newcomers. The Danish official who 
had charge of the colony welcomed Kane and his com- 
panions hospitably. 

Kane had brought all the dried and salted provisions he 
could carry, but he knew that his men would need fresh 
meat in order to keep well in this climate. Besides, they 
had with them about fifty dogs for the sledge journeys 
which Kane expected to make when the vessel could no 



34 THE FROZEN NORTH 

longer push her way through the ice. But Eskimo dogs 
have large appetites and need plenty of fresh meat to 
keep them strong ; a good Eskimo hunter was needed to 
supply such food. 

There was a boy about nineteen years of age in the 
town, named Hans Christian, who was known to be very 
skillful in the use of the kayak and the javelin. Kane 
called upon Hans to try his skill. Hans threw his javelin 
and speared a bird on the wing. Kane said, " That is the 
man for me," and wished to engage him on the spot. But 
Hans said, " No, not until you promise to give my mother 
two barrels of bread and fifty-two pounds of pork." Kane 
agreed, and then Hans went cheerfully on board the 
Advance, certain that his mother would not suffer during 
his absence. 

Kane made one more landing on the Greenland coast, 
at Sukkertoppen. The natives of this place collected 
reindeer skins, and had just sent four thousand to Den- 
mark. Kane bought a stock of skins for clothing, also a 
large supply of sealskins for boots. The party then bade 
farewell to the governor of the colony and put out to sea. 

The ship sailed northward for several days. Every day 
the weather became colder and the ice thicker. One day 
a heavy gale arose, and the ship tossed about so among the 
icebergs and the floating cakes that her escape from being 
crushed was marvelous. Captain Kane, who was a very 
ingenious man, devised a method of avoiding this danger 
from ice crushing. His plan was to attach the vessel to 
an iceberg and let her float after it, for there is always 
open water around a berg. The plan sounded very simple, 
but Kane had not reckoned on the nature of icebergs. 
After eight hours of hard work the anchors were fastened, 
but before the men had time to breathe freely, a few 



ELISHA KENT KANE 35 

crackling sounds were heard and pieces of ice the size of 
walnuts fell on the deck like hail. The sailors had just 
time to cast off from the berg when it fell, with a crash, 
into the water around them. 

Not long after this the Advance became so firmly fas- 
tened in the ice that they could not push her in any 
direction. The party then left the brig and explored the 
country around, traveling forty miles, and at last climbing 
to the top of an iceberg, a height of eleven hundred feet 
above the sea. On every side, as far as the eye could 
reach from this great elevation, spread out a solid sea 
of ice. 

It was now September, and the temperature fell below 
freezing. It seemed certain that the Advance could not be 
freed from the ice until the next summer, and the ex- 
plorers accordingly prepared to pass the winter there. 
They succeeded in dragging the vessel and wedging it in 
between two islands. In this harbor, known as Rensselaer 
bay, the stanch little Advance was frozen solidly in, never 
to be released. 



VII. WINTER IN RENSSELAER HARBOR 
1853-1854 

The Arctic winter had set in. By the middle of Sep- 
tember the thermometer had fallen to 14 and the ice was 
thickening fast. The long Arctic night was upon the 
explorers. During that first winter in Rensselaer harbor, 
the sun was below the horizon one hundred and twenty- 
days, and ninety of these days were totally dark ; for the 
remaining thirty days a faint light like our twilight glim- 
mered during a part of every twenty-fcur hours. 

During the time of darkness little exploring can be 
done. Explorers are obliged to stay on or near their ship 
and amuse themselves as best they may until the sun 
shines again. 

Can you fancy a night which lasts as long as ninety of 
our days ? Think of not seeing the sun for more than 
three months ! These men on the Advance suffered from 
a cold such as we know nothing about, and were often 
hungry too. Many of them became ill. 

Dr. Kane did everything in his power to buoy up their 
spirits. He was wise enough to know that, if his men had 
nothing to do, they would become homesick and despairing; 
so he planned work for all. Some made clothing and boots 
of the furs and skins they had collected ; others made 
sledges and rope out of hides, or patched up corners of 
the brig with moss to prevent the cold from entering. 

Dr. Kane himself trained the dogs for the sledge jour- 

36 



WINTER IN RENSSELAER HARBOR 



37 



neys. He had ten beautiful Newfoundland dogs which he 
harnessed to a low, light sled called the " Little Willie." 
In a short time these gentle, strong, intelligent animals 
carried Kane on journeys around the ship with ease. He 
drove them two abreast, in teams of four or six, guiding 
them entirely by his voice. 

With the Eskimo dogs, Kane was obliged to use other 
means. Eskimo dogs are not easily managed. They are 




An Eskimo Dog Team. 



near relatives of the wolf, and share the wolf's nature. 
They are driven in teams of ten or twelve, and must be 
guided mainly by the whip. Dr. Kane had to use a whip 
with a lash six yards long, and a handle only sixteen inches 
in length. It required a sort of " sleight of hand " move- 
ment to swing this long lash and hit the right dog with 
it. Dr. Kane found this driving very lively exercise. 

Sometimes Kane wanted to travel with a heavier load 
than the dogs could draw. For this purpose he used a 
larger sledge, thirteen feet long and four feet wide, upon 



38 THE FROZEN NORTH 

which he could carry fourteen hundred pounds of baggage. 
This sledge was called the " Faith," and nine men were 
often harnessed to it. Each man wore a shoulder belt or, 
as it was called, a "rue-raddy." A walrus-skin trace at- 
tached this rue-raddy to the sledge. 

In this way heavy loads of provisions were drawn over 
the ice. Kane stored these supplies along the route that 
he intended to take as soon as the sun should shine again. 
By thus sending provisions ahead and burying them, Kane 
hoped to be able to make the journey without fear of starv- 
ing ; for his whole party could never have carried enough 
at once to last during the time he expected to be gone. 

On long expeditions where the men were obliged to re- 
main away from the ship all night, each man carried his 
bed with him. An Arctic bed is a bag made of fur, into 
which one crawls, covering up all save one's nose. 

On one occasion some of the men delayed in returning 
from their trip, and it was feared that they were lost. 
After waiting twenty days for them to return, Kane har- 
nessed four of his best Newfoundland dogs to the " Little 
Willie" and started out to search for his missing compan- 
ions. He took but one man with him. The ice was full 
of cracks and very dangerous. The dogs galloped swiftly 
along; whenever they came to a fissure, over it they leaped 
and over flew the sledge also, simply by reason of its rapid 
movement. At length the party came to a fissure so wide 
that the dogs could not leap across it. They were going 
too fast to stop or turn aside, and dogs and sledge were 
thrown into the water. The two men, who had been run- 
ning beside the sledge, quickly cut the harness from the 
dogs. The faithful animals, freed from the traces, sprang 
to the ice, and with their intelligent help the sledge was 
dragged out. 



WINTER IN RENSSELAER HARBOR 39 

Kane and his companion were wet to the skin with icy 
cold water, and the temperature was below zero. What 
could prevent men and dogs from freezing ? But not a 
moment was wasted in thinking about what might happen. 
They all started on a run for solid ice, and they ran so fast 
that by the time a safe place was reached, they were quite 
warm. Several days later they came upon the friends they 
were seeking. The return to the ship was made more 
easily, although, while leaping a fissure, one unlucky man 
was thrown into the water. The rest pulled him out, none 
the worse for his cold bath. 

The men on the Advance were delighted to see Kane 
and their lost comrades again. They rejoiced because 
every one was safe. They had also another reason for hap- 
piness, for the dreary night was passing away, the twilight 
was growing longer and brighter, and day — a day as long- 
as the night — was coming. Soon after this Dr. Kane 
climbed to the top of a high hill to see the sun. It was 
a hard climb, but who would not have taken it for a first 
sight of the sun, after a night so long ? 

Each day the sun came and stayed longer, and with the 
sun came warmer weather. At last the sun rose so high 
in the heavens that it could not sink below the horizon 
at all. Then it shone, not only all day, but also all night. 



VIII. THE ESKIMOS 

1854 

One morning in the spring, the deck watch ran into Dr. 
Kane's cabin, crying, " People hallooing ashore ! " Dr. 
Kane hurried to the deck, and through the gloom saw 
strange figures all around the harbor. Though it was 
April, the sun had not yet risen high in the sky, and 
in the twilight these odd figures seemed to be waving 
weapons. 

Kane soon found that these people were the native 
Eskimos, and that they were tossing their arms wildly 
about, as if in great excitement. It is no wonder that they 
were excited, for they had never seen a white man before ; 
yet they showed no fear, and one of them came close to 
Kane. 

This Eskimo was named Metek. He stood a head taller 
than Dr. Kane, and was well built and strong, with a dark 
skin and black, piercing eyes. 

Metek wore booted trousers of white bearskin. At the 
toe the boot ended with the claw of the animal. His coat, 
or jumper, was of white and blue fox fur, and a hood of 
the same fur was on his head. Around his neck was tied 
a dirty, greasy strip of deerskin. At first the white men 
thought this an ornament, Metek was so careful of it. 
Later, Dr. Kane found that it was tied closely around 
his neck to keep out the air. 

When an Eskimo is fully dressed in his furs, and his 

40 



THE ESKIMOS 



41 



deerskin is tied closely around the neck so that no air can 
enter, he is, as it were, in a bag of fur. The heat from 
his body keeps him warm. As long as he is incased in 
air-tight clothing, he is safe from the most severe weather. 
All of the Eskimo party were invited to come aboard 
the Advance. They were large, strong men, and many 




Eskimos and their Dogs. 



of them could hunt the white bear and the walrus single- 
handed. 

The Eskimos had with them fifty-six fine dogs, tied by 
deerskin traces to their sledges, which were made of bone 
and lashed together by leather strips. The runners were 
of polished ivory, from the tusks of the walrus, and glistened 
like steel. The Eskimos' weapons were knives, which they 



4 2 THE FROZEN NORTH 

carried in their boots, and lances, which were lashed on their 
sledges. They had no wood for the handles of these weap- 
ons, because no trees grow in this cold country. All of the 
handles were made of bone. You would have thought 
these natives very rude indeed, could you have seen how 
they behaved on Dr. Kane's ship. They opened all the 
doors and rummaged around in the dark corners. They 
opened boxes, handling everything they saw, and putting 
all they could inside their jumpers and boots. In fact, 
they stole so much that Dr. Kane and his companions had 
to follow them continually and take the things out of their 
hands. 

At last the Eskimos became tired, and when the white 
men spread a buffalo skin on the floor near the fire, they 
threw themselves upon it. For supper each man had a large 
piece of raw walrus meat, from which he ate until he was 
tired. Then he went to sleep with the raw meat lying 
beside him. When he awoke he would seize his meat, 
eat more of it, then drop off to sleep again. Many slept 
in a sitting position, with their heads falling forward low 
on their breasts. 

Dr. Kane made a treaty with these people. He bought 
all the walrus meat they had, giving them needles, beads, 
and old cask staves for it. They promised to bring Kane 
more food very soon, and also to lend him their dogs for 
his journey to the north. Then Metek said they must 
go, and it did not take them long to get ready. They 
harnessed the dogs to the sledges quickly, jumped on, 
cracked their long sealskin whips, and off they went, 
dashing over the ice at a speed of twenty miles an hour. 

Some time later Metek again visited Rensselaer Harbor. 
This time Dr. Kane decided to go with him to his hut, 
and bring back a load of walrus meat. Kane and Metek 



THE ESKIMOS 



43 



traveled eight miles by sledge, with Metek's excellent team 
of twelve wild Eskimo dogs. They rode very swiftly over 
the ice and snow, until at last Kane saw what looked like 
two dark spots on the pure white surface. These spots 
were the entrances to two Eskimo huts. 

The Eskimo huts are built of large stones and are 
heavily sodded with turf or moss. They are shaped like 




Interior of an Eskimo Hut. 

From a drawing by Dr. Kane. 



half of an egg, and the entrance is a tunnel, through which 
the dwellers creep on their hands and knees. The door is 
a slab of slate or ice. At this time the huts were buried 
under the snow. 

The natives rushed out to meet the travelers. They 
seemed delighted to see Kane, but the cold soon drove 
them 



inside again. 



Kane and Metek followed, crawling 



44 THE FROZEN NORTH 

through a tunnel twelve feet in length, which led them 
into the hut of one room about six by fifteen feet. It was 
crowded with persons and served for all purposes. The 
women were cooking large pieces of walrus meat over 
small lamps, and men and children were lying about 
half-clothed, calling to one another with uncouth sounds. 
Others lay stretched upon the floor sleeping. 

The thermometer outside registered 30 below zero. 
Inside the hut the temperature stood at 90 , nor was 
there any place for fresh air to enter. Poor Dr. Kane 
was obliged to take off all his fur clothes like the rest. 
Being very tired, he soon fell asleep, with an Eskimo boy 
for a pillow, and a little Eskimo baby under his arm. 

Dr. Kane slept well. When he awoke he was offered 
some breakfast of boiled blubber. But, unluckily, he had 
seen the women cooking this, and they were so careless 
and dirty that he could not touch it. Instead he ate some 
pieces of frozen liver which he had brought with him. 
After breakfast he started on a walrus hunt. 



IX. HUNTING IN THE ICY NORTH 

The walrus has been called "the lion of the seas." He 
is a huge animal, often eighteen feet in length. His head 
is square, and his cheeks and lips are covered with quills 
like bristles. From his face also extend the tusks, which 
on the larger animals are often thirty inches in length, 
and are prized as ivory. Altogether the walrus is a fierce- 
looking creature, with a tough hide and an ugly temper. 

Like the seal, the walrus has to come to the surface of 
the water to breathe. So Dr. Kane and his Eskimo friends 
tried to find open water, or, at least, a place where the ice 
was thin. The walrus has a habit of bellowing as he lies 
on the ice, so that hunters are guided by this strange and 
terrible sound. Every few minutes the hunters took off 
their fur hoods to listen. 

At last a large walrus rose through the ice, breaking it 
with a loud crash. Just as the animal rose out of the 
water, Dr. Kane and the Eskimos fell at full length, flat 
on the ice. As soon as the head of the walrus sank below 
the water again, the hunters jumped up and ran toward 
the hole, where they knew it would soon reappear. Every 
time the head of the animal was seen coming to the surface, 
the hunters would fall to the ice or hide themselves behind 
hummocks. In this way — now running, now hiding — 
they at last came near enough to the walrus to throw their 
harpoon into its body. Tied to the harpoon was a long 

45 



46 THE FROZEN NORTH 

rope of walrus hide, which uncoiled rapidly as an Eskimo 
ran away to solid ice with one end in his hand. When at 
a safe distance, he drove a spike of bone into the ice and 
fastened the end of the rope to it. 

Meanwhile, the powerful walrus had been struggling in 
the water, breaking up the ice around with a frightful noise. 
The Eskimos tightened the rope whenever they could, and 




A Walrus Hunt. 

again the walrus rose and threw his powerful body against 
the ice, breaking it away; now they had to work fast. 
First one, and then another, would seize the spike and run 
with it and the rope to a safe place. In this way they 
tired the animal out, and were able to give him a second 
wound. 

During this battle the walrus roared hideously, using 
his tusks fiercely. He rushed toward the men and tore 
away great pieces of ice with his tusks, but though he 



HUNTING IN THE ICY NORTH 47 

received many lance wounds, he never once showed fear 
or made any attempt to run away. 

When the great beast was dead, the Eskimos drew it 
up on the ice, the flesh was divided, and Dr. Kane packed 
his share upon his sledge. Then with his own four dogs 
he set out to return to the brig. He himself ran most 
of the way home, because the dogs had difficulty in draw- 
ing the heavy load. The crew were glad to see Kane 
once more, and glad, too, for what he had brought. 
During the winter fresh meat had been so scarce that 
many of the men became sick with the terrible disease 
which salt meat produces. 

Toward spring Dr. Kane and Hans went hunting for 
seals. The seal comes up under the ice where it is 
thinnest, and scratches a hole through it with his sharp 
claws. Then he hollows out the snow above and makes 
an opening just large enough to allow the air to pass 
through ; this is his breathing hole. It is so small that 
often one cannot see it, but the seal makes a blowing noise 
in breathing, and the hunters have learned to listen for 
this sound. 

Kane and Hans often sat many hours on a block of ice 
beside a hole, waiting for a seal. When the seal appeared, 
one of them quickly thrust a spear into him and usually 
killed him. Then Hans would fasten a thong of walrus 
hide about the neck of the seal and drag him away, across 
the ice, to the ship. The meat of the seal is delicious, and 
great was the rejoicing among the men when a hunting 
expedition was successful. 

When the sun begins to shine, the Eskimos hunt in 
a different way. They know that the seals like to 
creep out of the water and lie on the ice in the sunshine. 
The hunters take with them a sledge. with a white screen 



4 8 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



fastened across it, which they push along in front of them, 
the screen hiding their bodies from view. A hole in the 
middle of the screen gives them a chance to see ahead, and 
provides an opening through which they can point a rifle. 
When the hunter sees in the distance the bodies of seals 
lying on the edge of the ice, he pushes his sledge toward 








A Herd of Seals. 



them. So quietly and so steadily does he move, that 
the seals do not become alarmed. They lie still, watch- 
ing the strange object, until the hunter is near enough to 
shoot. 

When the summer comes it is still easier to hunt seals, 
for their eyes are blinded by the bright sun shining on the 
snow and ice, and the hunters can often walk within gun- 
shot of them without using the screen. 



HUNTING IN THE ICY NORTH 



49 



Kane's party had plenty of fresh seal meat to eat in the 
summer time. From the fat of each animal they obtained 
about five gallons of oil, which they used in their lamps. 
The fur made warm coats and trousers, while the hides were 
used for covering the boats and for whiplashes. Dr. Kane 
learned not to waste any part of the seal's body ; even the 
bones could be used for hooks and for the handles of tools. 




Polar Bears. 

There is another animal in the cold regions which 
hunters are eager to slay. This is the large, fierce polar 
bear. He has a flat head, a long neck, and smooth, white 
fur. He is always found near the sea, where he pursues 
seals both in the water and on ice, and preys upon fishes 
and birds. 

Kane had many a chase over the ice after the bears. 
When a bear track is seen on the ice or snow, the dogs are 
immediately set upon the trail. The hunters follow the 
dogs quickly and silently. When they come within sight 



50 THE FROZEN NORTH 

of the bear, the hunter releases the dogs from their har- 
ness, so that they may surround the bear and cut off his 
retreat. The dogs are carefully trained not to fight the 
bear, but to annoy him. They run around him in circles 
and prevent him from making his escape. The bear, 
when brought to bay, rises on his haunches, seizes the 
nearest dog in his teeth and tosses him to one side. The 
dogs instinctively relax their muscles in falling, and are 
seldom hurt; they usually rise immediately and return to 
the conflict. In this way the bear is detained until the 
hunters arrive. 

Sometimes two hunters engage one animal, striking at 
him with their lances. Two men can easily kill a bear. 
As one man pretends to thrust his lance into the right side, 
the animal turns, and tries to protect himself with his fore 
paws. Then the other hunter gives him his death wound 
in the left side. 

A man must have a great deal of skill and courage 
to be able to kill a polar bear single-handed. The single 
hunter provokes the bear to follow him by running as if 
trying to escape. The bear comes down on all four feet 
and prepares to pursue the man. With a rapid jump to 
the right, the hunter runs back to his first position. The 
bear turns in the same way to follow, when the hunter 
skillfully plunges his lance into the left side just below the 
shoulder. Even then the most expert hunter sometimes 
has to leave his spear in the animal's side and run for his 
life, though a wound given in that spot is usually fatal. 
The Eskimos hold in highest esteem the hunter who can 
kill a bear single-handed. 

The flesh of the bear is used for food, and the fur for 
clothing. Dr. Kane killed so many of these animals that 
he actually tired of the sport. 



X. HOME AGAIN 

1855 

Dr. Kane and his companions passed two winters in 
the ice regions, living in a place farther north than any 
explorers had ever lived in before. Few Arctic explorers 
at that time had passed two winter seasons in the ice. 

During the cold months the average temperature at 
Rensselaer harbor stood at — 29 , during the summer 
months at 33 . When you consider that the summer was 
colder than the average winter in the vicinity of New York 
City, you will understand in part what were the severities of 
the climate that these men endured. The first winter, with 
the long, dark night, was dismal and gloomy, and there 
was a great deal of sickness and suffering among the men. 
When summer came, Kane hoped that his ship might be 
released from the ice. He waited a long time, but the ice 
did not thaw, and again winter came upon them suddenly. 
It was then too late for the men to escape to the south ; 
so a second winter was passed on board the Advance. It 
was a sad time : many of the men died and many suffered 
terribly from disease and want of food. 

When the spring of 1855 came, Kane again hoped that 
the ice around the brig would thaw and leave her free, for 
he was a good commander and could not bear to desert 
his ship. At last it became certain that the ice would not 
break away, and that the Advance could not be released 
that spring. 

51 



52 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Then Kane decided to leave the ship and try to reach 
some settlement on the Greenland coast. The men prom- 
ised to follow him and to obey him in all things. They 
knew the danger of the journey, but they also knew that 
a third winter on the Advance would probably cost them 
their lives. At this time the company had provisions 
enough to last them thirty-six days. These provisions 
were packed in small boats, ready to be dragged over the 
ice to open water. All the baggage and the articles 
necessary for use in cooking, eating, and sleeping, were 
at last ready to be placed on the sledges. Four of the 
men were so ill that they also had to be carried. 

Each man in the party wore a woolen underdress and 
an Eskimo suit of fur. The men's boots were of their 
own make, fashioned of canvas and lined with walrus hide. 
Inside of these boots each man wore another pair, made 
of carpeting which had been taken from the cabin of the 
Advance. To save themselves from becoming snow-blind, 
they wore large goggles, made by cutting a small slit in a 
piece of wood. Some had entire masks made of gutta 
percha. 

It was May when Kane and his companions bade fare- 
well to the brig and set out to cover the thirteen hundred 
miles of ice and water which lay between them and the 
place where they hoped to find a settlement. Yet they 
did not despair. The men who were able to work, dragged 
sledges and boats as far as the spot selected for a camp. 
Here they built a hut or erected a tent for the sick, mak- 
ing them as comfortable as they could. Then the workers 
went back over the same route and brought along the 
baggage, which had been left behind because they could 
not carry it all at one time. Thus they were obliged to 
travel back over each day's march, and each following day 



HOME AGAIN 



53 



to bring ahead the baggage that could not be carried the 
first time. 

It was slow progress, but they kept on bravely. Often 
they were delayed by heavy snowstorms. As they could 
not drag the sledges through the deep drifts, they crept 
into their tents and slept, waiting for the storm to pass 
away. When it became possible for them to travel again, 




Traveling over the Ice Hummocks. 



they started out, plowing their way through the snow, 
often so tired that they could hardly lift their feet. Some- 
times they journeyed over thin ice, and many a man fell 
through and just escaped drowning. 

It was near the middle of June when the party reached 
the shores of Baffin bay and began to launch the boats. 
The launching took a long time, for the surf beat high 
along the shore, and great masses of drifting ice were 
dashed about. 



54 THE FROZEN NORTH 

A severe gale arose, and the boats were nearly crushed 
in the ice, but a day later they succeeded in putting off 
from the shore. The Faith led the way, with Captain 
Kane aboard. Then followed the Red Eric, with most of 
the provisions, and last of all, the Hope. These three 
small boats were now embarked on a sea in which the 
hardiest whaling vessel might easily founder. 

The party were all hopeful until provisions were ex- 
hausted; then the stoutest hearts failed. Even Kane de- 
spaired of ever reaching a settlement, but he was too brave 
a leader to allow his men to know this, and he encouraged 
them in every way possible. The men grew so weak from 
want of food that they were scarcely able to guide the boats. 

The ice had knocked holes in each of the boats, and 
they had to be constantly baled to keep them from sink- 
ing. When everything looked darkest, one of the party 
saw a large seal floating on a piece of ice a short distance 
away. The half-starved men became so excited that they 
could hardly handle the oars. Every preparation was 
made to steal quietly toward the animal, which seemed to 
be asleep. Stockings were placed over the oars to deaden 
the sound, and a man named Peterson, who was thought 
to be the best shot of the party, was stationed in the bow 
with the rifle. 

Silently the oarsmen guided the boat toward the piece 
of ice where the seal was lying. When they were almost 
within rifle shot, the seal lifted its head and saw the boat. 
The men were filled with despair as they saw the animal 
move toward the sea as if to plunge in. They all looked 
anxiously at Peterson, for their lives depended upon him. 
Poor Peterson was trembling with nervousness and weak- 
ness. His hands shook, but with a great effort he steadied 
himself and fired. Instantly the seal fell over on its side. 



HOME AGAIN 



55 



With shouts of delight the men pushed the boat to the 
ice, climbed upon it, and seized the animal. They were 
half mad with joy, and ran over the ice, crying and laugh- 
ing, and waving their knives. Soon every man was eating 
raw blubber and licking his bloody fingers with relish. It 
was a savage meal, but starved men may be pardoned for 
being fierce. 




Dragging the Boats over the Ice Floes. 



Other seals were shot, and soon land was sighted. 
Kane directed the course of the boats southward along the 
coast, and a few nights later the men landed on the rocks 
for rest and sleep. 

One morning Peterson, in great excitement, awoke Kane 
and told him that he had just seen a native in a kayak, 
searching among the rocks along the coast for eider down. 
Peterson knew him, and called to him : " Don't you know 
me? I am Carl Peterson." " No," the Eskimo answered; 
"Peterson's wife says he is dead." Then he paddled away 
very fast as if in fear. 



56 THE FROZEN NORTH 

A few days later Kane and his companions were rowing 
along in their boats, when the mast of a vessel loomed in 
the distance before them. Peterson burst into sobs in his 
excitement, and in broken English and Danish exclaimed, 
" It's the Upernavik oil boat ! " Indeed, it was the vessel 
that goes once a year to Upernavik for a supply of blub- 
ber to make oil. Soon the vessel came near enough for 
the crews to talk to each other. You may be sure that 




Upernavik, Greenland. 

Captain Kane's party wanted to know what had happened 
during their long absence from home. The first question 
Kane asked was whether Franklin had been found. 

The sailors told him that some traces of Franklin had 
been seen, but that it was now supposed that he and all of 
his companions had perished. This news made Kane very 
sad, for no one knew better than he what suffering Frank- 
lin and his men must have endured. 

After learning all that these men could tell him, Kane 
journeyed on. After another halt for sleep, and another 



HOME AGAIN 57 

long pull at the oars, the men heard the welcome sound of 
barking dogs at the settlement. 

The people of Upernavik were very kind to Kane and 
his men. They fitted up a loft for them to sleep in and 
shared their stores in a liberal manner. 

A Danish vessel, starting for home early in September, 
took Kane and his party on board, promising to land them 
at the Shetland islands. On the nth the vessel reached 
Disco, where another steamer was sighted in the distance. 
As she drew near Kane's men saw with joy that she carried 
the American flag. The vessel proved to be a relief ship 
sent out by the United States to search for Captain Kane. 
The men, under command of Lieutenant Hartstene, greeted 
Kane and his companions with cheers and took them aboard. 
The Faith, which had done such excellent service, was 
taken on board also, and may now be seen at the Brooklyn 
navy yard. Though Kane had been compelled to leave the 
Advance in the ice, had lost his equipment, and had found 
no trace of Sir John Franklin, yet his expedition was by 
no means a failure. The geographical and scientific value 
of the knowledge which he gained during his stay in the 
icy North was very great. 

Large tracts of country, before unknown, had been dis- 
covered and surveyed; the coast of Greenland had been 
explored as far north as latitude 8i°, and the great glacier 
of Humboldt, with a sea face forty-five miles in length, 
discovered. New land to the north of Humboldt glacier 
was also discovered and named Washington Land. 

A great channel to the northwest, free from ice, was 
supposed to lead into an open polar sea. The theory of 
an open polar sea, however, has not yet been proved. * 

Grinnell Land was discovered, and a survey made of the 
lands bordering on Smith sound. Valuable facts in rela- 



58 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



tion to the tides, climates, and plants were compiled, and 
a study was made of the Eskimos of Smith sound. Kane 
received gold medals from the Queen of England, the 
Royal Geographical Society of London, the American 
Congress, and the New York Legislature. 

But Kane's health, never of the best, now began to fail. 
He went to England, but while there grew rapidly worse. 
He then sailed for Havana, hoping that the balmy climate 
would benefit him ; but it was too late for him to recover 
his health, and he died at Havana, February 16, 1857. 




A Green lander in his Kayak. 



XL NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST 
PASSAGE 

1878-1879 

The next man to journey into the frozen North was 
Adolf Erik Nordenskjold. 1 He was born in Finland and 
educated at its university ; but when he was about twenty- 
two years of age he fell under the suspicion of the Russian 
government and was compelled to leave his native country. 
Nordenskjold then took up his residence in Sweden, and in 
1858 began his career as an Arctic explorer by going on a 
journey to Spitzbergen. Five voyages in the Arctic regions 
followed, during one of which Nordenskjold visited Green- 
land and made an inland journey over the ice. 

The interior of Greenland is believed to be one vast 
glacier, moving slowly to the sea. This movement causes 
the formation of deep chasms and clefts which are almost 
bottomless, and which prevent the traveler from making 
rapid progress. 

Notwithstanding the dangers and hardships of the jour- 
ney, Nordenskjold advanced thirty miles over the glacier 
to a height of twenty-two hundred feet above the level of 
the sea. Upon returning to the coast, he visited Disco 
Fiord, and then went home to Sweden. 

About the time that Nordenskjold reached home, the 
Swedish government decided to send a sledge expedition 

1 Pronounced Not' den sheld. 
59 



60 THE FROZEN NORTH 

from Spitzbergen to the North Pole. The nation which 
should first succeed in reaching the pole would gain the 
admiration of the civilized world, and Sweden hoped to 
win this glory. 

The government began at once to look for a leader for 
this expedition, and very naturally selected Nordenskjold, 
who had already made Arctic voyages and had thereby 
gained experience which made him a valuable commander. 

The party was sent out in 1872, but did not succeed in 
advancing far toward the pole; yet the results of the 
journey were important, for the island of Spitzbergen was 
explored and a good deal of scientific information was ac- 
quired. 

When Professor Nordenskjold returned from Spitz- 
bergen, he gave his attention to the northern coast of Asia. 
Some few whalers had sailed round Nova Zembla and 
entered the Kara sea, but the idea prevailed that this sea 
was always full of ice and dangerous to navigate. Norden- 
skjold, however, made up his mind to explore the Kara 
sea and sail along the coast of Siberia to the mouth of the 
Yenisei river. 

Supported by Mr. Oscar Dickson of Gothenburg, Nor- 
denskjold sailed on the Proven. He first visited Nova 
Zembla, and then, passing through Jugor strait, entered the 
Kara sea, which was entirely free from ice, and reached 
the Yenisei river without much difficulty. During this 
journey, he and his assistants made valuable collections of 
the products of the animal, mineral, and vegetable king- 
doms. They succeeded in increasing the number of known 
insects to be found in Nova Zembla from seven to one 
hundred, and in the Kara sea, which had been thought bar- 
ren, they found five hundred species of animal life. Upon 
reaching the mouth of the Yenisei river, Nordenskjold 



NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 6l 

sent the Proven home, while he and a few chosen com- 
panions proceeded up the river in a small boat. 

It was summer time and the tundras were covered with 
a scanty vegetation. The tundras are the plains of Russia 
and Siberia which lie between the tree limit and the Arctic 
ocean. Most persons think of them as entirely barren ; 




Samoyed Huts in Summer. 

in some parts the soil is fertile and would be suitable for 
cultivation, if the climate permitted. In the winter they 
are frozen, but in the summer they afford pasture to herds 
of reindeer. 

All Siberia is colder than other places in the same lati- 
tude. One of the best-known cold regions on the earth 
is in Siberia, in latitude 6y° 54/ N. Here the average tem- 
perature of the winter months is often as low as — 53°, while 
some days the thermometer falls to —75° and — 85 F. 

The tundras are inhabited by a tribe of Siberian Indians 
called Samoyeds. These natives travel about during the 
summer, hunting and fishing, setting up their skin tents 
wherever they find game plentiful. They usually have 
with them a large number of dogs, which they use for 



62 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



sledging in winter and drawing boats against the current 
during the summer. The dogs run alongshore and drag 
the boats after them up the river, very much as mules draw 
our canal boats. The Samoyeds are small of stature and 
very dirty. Their hair is matted and unkempt, and they 
wear clothes of skin, with sometimes a bright-colored cotton 
shirt over the skin blouse. 

These people worship idols, which look like dolls made 
of skin, and which they always carry with them on their 
travels. Some of these idols, or gods, have faces of brass 
or copper, and some carry bows made of forged iron. The 

Samoyeds worship by mak- 



ing pilgrimages to certain 
spots, where they offer sac- 
rifices and make vows ; they 
eat the flesh of their victims, 
and besmear their idols with 
the blood. At these sacred 
places there are piles of 
bones and skulls of the rein- 
deer, with the horns. Near 
by are also found quantities 
of old iron, and hundreds of 
small wooden sticks, carved 
to look like human faces. 
It was to this Samoyed 
country that the Russian government used to send her 
criminals, and there are many exiles living there now; but 
the natives treat them very kindly and never inquire into 
the cause of their banishment. 

As Nordenskjold and his companions traveled on, they 
saw large masses of driftwood lying along the shores of 
the river. This driftwood is carried by the current out 







A Samoyed Family in Winter 
Costume. 



NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 63 

into the Arctic ocean, and is often picked up by explorers 
on the North American and Greenland shores, a fact which 
seems to prove that the ocean currents carry it across the 
polar sea. At length the travelers entered the region 
from which this driftwood comes. This is the great forest 
belt of Siberia, the largest in the world, extending, with 
but little interruption, from the Ural mountains to the 
Sea of Okhotsk. It consists mainly of enormous pines, 
growing thickly, and untouched by the ax of the lumber- 
man. Many trees are withered with age ; others are fallen, 
and their decayed trunks are covered with mosses and 
lichens. The wilderness is so vast that a man might 
wander hundreds of miles without meeting a human being. 

Beyond the forest belt lie the fertile plains, which are 
partly cultivated and which supply Europe with wheat. 
Nordenskjold visited these plains, or steppes, and then 
proceeded homeward overland, by way of St. Petersburg. 
The next year, 1876, Nordenskjold made a second voyage 
from Sweden to the mouth of the Yenisei river, proving 
beyond a doubt that there is a sea route from the Atlantic 
to the mouth of the great Siberian river. For this achieve- 
ment he was regarded by Russia as a national benefactor 
and publicly thanked. 

Nordenskjold hoped that the rich produce of central 
Asia, the gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal, the ivory, 
timber, wheat, and furs, might now be shipped through the 
rivers to the Arctic ocean and thence to Europe. The 
dangers of navigation through the ice, however, are so 
great that it is doubtful whether this route can ever 
become an important one for purposes of commerce. 

Nordenskjold was not yet satisfied with the work he had 
accomplished in the Arctic regions. He longed to do 
what Arctic explorers had been trying to do for three hun- 



64 THE FROZEN NORTH 

dred years ; namely, to find a northeast passage to the 
Pacific. Supported by King Oscar of Sweden and by Mr. 
Oscar Dickson of Gothenburg, Nordenskjold sailed from 
Tromso in his ship, the Vega, July 21, 1878, accompanied 
by three other vessels. Two of the vessels left him at the 
mouth of the Yenisei and proceeded up that river, while 
the other, the Lena, accompanied the Vega eastward. The 
fog caused the sailors more trouble than the ice, but one 
day the mist rose, showing a dark ice-free cape. Then 
Nordenskjold knew that he had succeeded in reaching the 
northernmost point of the Old World, Cape Tcheliuskin 
(Chelyuskin). 

More than a century earlier, Lieutenant Tcheliuskin, a 
Russian officer, had succeeded in reaching this most north- 
ern point of Siberia, traveling overland by sledge. Many 
explorers had tried to reach Cape Tcheliuskin by water, but 
up to this time all had failed. Nordenskjold and his com- 
panions were very proud of their success. Flags were 
hoisted, salutes fired, and the officers drank toasts in honor 
of the occasion. 

A heap of stones, called a cairn, was erected on shore 
as a memorial, and soon the two vessels started again on 
their journey eastward. When the mouth of the Lena 
river was reached, the ship Lena headed toward it and, 
after exploring the river, returned home. 

After parting from the Lena, the Vega continued her 
voyage to the New Siberian islands and thence along the 
coast of Asia, nearly to Bering strait. When within a 
day's journey of the strait, the Vega was beset in the ice; 
and, much to Nordenskj old's regret, he was obliged to pass 
the winter at the very entrance to the Pacific ocean. Had 
he been a few hours earlier, he might have forced his 
way through the ice and completed the northeast passage 



NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 6$ 

in 1878. But in that case we should never have known all 
the interesting facts which he has told us about the strange 
people who inhabit the northeastern peninsula of Asia. 

These people are a Siberian tribe, called Tchuktches. 1 
There are two divisions of the tribe, the reindeer Tchuk- 
tches and the coast Tchuktches. The former own herds 
of reindeer, and travel about, pitching their tents wherever 
the pasture is good. They also trade in skins, hides, furs, 




The "Vega" firing a Salute at Cape Tcheliuskin, the Most 
Northern Point of the Old World. 



and whalebones with the most northern Indian tribes of 
America and with the Russian fur dealers, often making 
long journeys for this purpose. The coast Tchuktches live 
along the shore, and hunt and fish for their living. 

The reindeer Tchuktches were encamped near the Vega's 
winter quarters. As soon as these people saw a strange 
ship anchored off the coast, they launched a large skin 
boat very skillfully, and men, women, and children jumped 

1 Pronounced Chook'chez. 



66 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



in and rowed through the thin, newly formed ice to the 
vessel. They climbed aboard and seemed as pleased to 
see the white men as if they had been old friends. The 
deck of the Vega became a reception room, for not a day 
passed without a visit from the natives. 

The Tchuktches are a strong, hardy race, but very lazy. 
Nothing but want of food induces them to work. Many 




TCHUKTCHE AND REINDEER. 



are tall, with brown skin and raven-black hair, and a large 
nose like that of our North American Indians. Some have 
high cheek bones and slanting eyes, like the Mongolian 
race. They live in tents, which are made double to insure 
warmth during the winter. The inner tent is the sleeping 
room. The framework is of wood, and over this are spread 
thick reindeer skins. The floor is a walrus skin, and at 
night extra reindeer skins are thrown down like a carpet. 
The inner tent is heated by three train-oil lamps, which, 



NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 67 

together with the heat from the bodies of the many human 
beings who are packed in this small space, raise the tem- 
perature in the tent to such a degree that even in the most 
severe weather, the natives strip off all their clothing. In 
the winter they live, cook, and work in the inner tent; the 
outer tent, used in summer, is built around the inner tent. 
The skins of the outer tent are older and thinner than 
those of the inner one. 

The Tchuktche women work very hard. They take 
care of the children, cook, sew, and keep the tent in order. 
They receive the game and cut it up, in winter in the tent 
and in summer on the beach. They help with the fishing ; 
they tan the hides and prepare thread from the sinews. 
The men provide the food, which they obtain by fishing, 
hunting, and trading. But in and around the tent they do 
nothing but put their hunting tools in order, or play with 
the children. 

Tchuktche children are healthy and hearty. They often 
cross from one tent to another entirely naked, when the 
weather is bitterly cold. The children are petted and 
treated very kindly. The older people never utter an 
angry word to them, or punish them. For playthings they 
have dolls, bows, and windmills with sails. Tchuktche 
children are very well-behaved. A little girl fell down the 
ship's stairs head first, and received so severe a blow that 
her hearing was nearly destroyed, yet she scarcely uttered 
a cry. A small boy of four years once visited the ship. 
He was so wrapped up in furs that he looked like a ball 
and could hardly move. He fell into a ditch which had 
been cut in the ice on the deck, and could not get out. 
The small Tchuktche did not make a sound, but waited 
patiently until some one saw him lying there and rescued 
him. 



68 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



When the ice became solid, the natives came on their 
dog sleds from villages far away. Sometimes they brought 
skins and whalebones to exchange for tobacco and brandy, 
but they obtained very little of the latter from the men on 




Tchuktche Man and Woman. 



the Vega. As winter advanced, the natives' provisions 
gave out. Then they gathered around the ship at the time 
when they knew the crew were at dinner, and begged for 
food so hard that one day the cook himself came out with 
a large kettle full of meat soup. The Tchuktches seized 



NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 69 

it like starving animals and bailed it out with spoons, empty 
tin cans, and even with their hands. Nordenskjold gave 
them all the food he could spare, but in spite of his kind- 
ness the plump little babies grew thin and hollow-eyed. 
One day the Tchuktche hunters killed a polar bear and 
several seals. Then begging ceased for a few days, and 
they rested from hunting and lived on the fat- of the land, 
without any thought of the future. 




Hunting Reindeer. 



A few days later a procession of Tchuktches was again 
seen, coming in single file over the ice toward the ship, 
each man carrying a piece of ice on his shoulder. This 
he gave to the cook, begging for something to eat in re- 
turn ; and you may be sure that all the food that could be 
spared was given to these poor people. 

One morning a number of men approached the ship, 
dragging a dog sledge on which a man lay so quietly that 



70 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Nordenskjold thought he must be ill or dead. To his sur- 
prise, when the sledge reached the side of the vessel, the 
man climbed rapidly to the deck and saluted. He then 
informed Nordenskjold in broken Russian that he was the 
great chief of the Tchuktches, and, as a mark of his high 
rank, he had been drawn over the ice by men instead of 
dogs. 

This man's name was Menka. He gave Nordenskjold 
two roasts of reindeer meat, and in return received some 
tobacco and a woolen shirt. Finding that Menka was 
going to a Russian town some distance away, Nordenskjold 
asked him to carry a letter to the Russian authorities 
there, as he wanted to let King Oscar know where he was. 
Menka consented, and Nordenskjold wrote the letter and 
gave it to him. Whether Menka misunderstood or not, 
no one. knows; but when he reached shore he assembled 
the Tchuktches, opened the letter, and, holding it upside 
down, gravely read it in his own language to his admiring 
audience. His hearers thought him very learned indeed. 

The next day the great chief again visited the Vega, 
but no one mentioned the letter for fear of hurting his 
feelings. Menka doubtless meant no harm. The Tchuk- 
tches seem to have been very democratic in their senti- 
ments ; they refused to admit that Menka was their chief, 
saying that they were just as good as he was. 

When Christmas came, some of the whites persuaded 
the Tchuktches to bring them a load of willows from the 
valleys in the south. They took a piece of wood for the 
stem and, tying on the willow bushes for branches, called 
it a Christmas tree, and decorated it with flags, colored 
papers, and wax lights. A box of Christmas presents had 
been placed on board by their friends at home ; this was 
opened and the presents distributed. Then the men danced 



NORDENSKJOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE Jl 

a polka around the tree and drank the good health of all 
their friends. 

The spring came slowly, and time dragged, though the 
men were very busy collecting specimens and noting the 
curious changes in the atmosphere and vegetation. It 
seemed as if the ice would never break up. On July 18, 
1879, Nordenskjold and his companions sat down to dinner 
as usual. During the meal the vessel, which had been 
motionless for months, moved slightly. It was a moment 
of intense excitement, and everybody rushed on deck. 
The ice was moving ! It did not take long for the engineer 
to light the boiler fires, and in two hours the Vega was 
free and on her way to Bering strait. There was not much 
time to say farewell to the Tchuktches, who gathered 
on the shore and watched the departure of their white 
friends. 

The Vega encountered but little ice, and at 11 o'clock 
on the morning of July 20, 1879, she sailed into the middle 
of the strait that connects the Arctic and Pacific oceans. 
Salutes were fired and flags raised. The northeastern pas- 
sage was accomplished. In a single voyage Nordenskjold 
had succeeded in doing what Arctic explorers had been 
trying to achieve for three hundred years. 

On his way home Nordenskjold visited Japan. He 
remained there two weeks, collecting facts which con- 
tributed a great deal to our knowledge of that country. 
When Nordenskjold reached home, King Oscar made him 
a baron, and commander of the Order of the North Star. 
The remainder of his life was spent in scientific work. In 
August, 1 90 1, this great man passed away, leaving behind 
him a lasting fame. 



XII. VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE 

i 879-1 88 i 

During the same month, July, 1879, that Nordenskjold 
completed the northeast passage by sailing through Be- 
ring strait into the Pacific ocean, an expedition sailed from 
San Francisco northward through Bering sea on a voyage 
of discovery in Arctic regions. 

This expedition was sent out by Mr. James Gordon Ben- 
nett, the owner of the New York Herald. Mr. Bennett 
bought and equipped a vessel, which he called the Jean- 
nette. By special act of Congress, the Jeannette was con- 
ducted by the United States Navy, with the rights and 
privileges of a government vessel. 

The command was offered to Lieutenant George W. De 
Long and he accepted, after the expedition was made 
national. De Long, it is said, believed that an expedition 
might reach the North Pole by following a branch of the 
Japan Current through Bering strait and into the Arctic 
ocean, a route which had never been attempted. 

Many explorers who had made trips to the Arctic 
regions observed that the ice always drifted toward the 
southeast, and entered the Atlantic ocean between the 
islands of Spitsbergen and Greenland. It was thought 
that there must be a strong southeast current to carry 
this pack of floating ice always in the same direction. 
Instead of trying to sail northward between Spitzbergen 
and Greenland, where they must meet that great ice pack, 

72 



VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE 73 

these men said : " Let us enter the Arctic ocean through 
Bering strait and sail northward toward the pole. If the 
ship is caught in the ice pack, she will drift along with 
the pack into the Atlantic ocean. Perhaps the drift will 
carry the ship across the North Pole." 

De Long sailed from San Francisco on the Jeannette, 
July 8, 1879. It was a beautiful sunny day, and many 
vessels were gathered in San Francisco bay to attend 
the departure. Guns were fired, flags waved, and cheers 
given with a will for the brave men who were going to 
risk their lives in the search for the North Pole. 

The Jeannette sailed away through the Pacific ocean. 
She crossed Bering sea in a heavy gale, and passed 
through Bering strait in safety. After rounding East 
cape, the watch in the crow's nest saw some rude huts 
along the beach. They were the homes of the Tchuk- 
tches, the Siberian race which inhabits this peninsula. 

The ice alongshore prevented De Long from landing, 
and the natives, seeing this, launched a large skin boat 
and went out to the ship. The Indian chief went with 
them, and they all boarded the Jeannette. These people 
could furnish very little information, because no one on 
board knew their language and they could speak no Eng- 
lish. But De Long learned, by means of signs and motions, 
that Nordenskjold, with the Vega, had wintered to the 
northwest of them, and that a few weeks before he had 
passed out through Bering strait. 

The Tchuktches had a delightfully original way of ask- 
ing for liquor. They bent their elbows and uttered the 
word " Schnapps." But they did not get anything to 
drink, and soon returned to the shore. 

The next day some men from the Jeannette succeeded 
in landing. They found the Tchuktches living in tents 



74 THE FROZEN NORTH 

made of skin, and very dirty. They ate the raw flesh of 
the walrus and drank the blood. Their chief wore a red 
calico gown as a mark of his high rank. It was a cool 
garment for so cold a place, but the natives do not feel 
the cold as keenly as we should. 

After sailing along the Siberian coast for a short dis- 
tance, the Jeannette bade farewell to land and started on 
her perilous journey. 

In the Arctic regions the ice is divided into what is 
known as young ice and the pack. Young ice is that 
which is forming all the time. It is thin at first, and 
vessels can usually cut their way through. The pack is 
the old ice which has been formed for many years, and is 
composed of large pieces, called floes, which are often 
thirty or forty feet thick and extend over a great surface 
both above and below the water. 

The floes sometimes close up and float together as a 
pack, squeezing in everything between them. Sometimes 
they separate, leaving channels of water between. The 
pack floats with the wind and the current, and there is little 
chance of escape from it. If a ship is caught in the ice 
pack, it must float with it until a storm or some other 
change of weather breaks up the pack. When a ship 
is strong enough to resist the pressure of the ice pack, 
there is some chance of escape in the spring, but so tre- 
mendous is the power of the ice that Arctic voyagers 
avoid the pack if possible. 

It seems to have been De Long's intention deliberately 
to enter the pack and drift with it, for when, on Septem- 
ber 6, he saw an opening between the Siberian and the 
American packs, he slipped in. At first the Jeannette 
pushed her way bravely, but after a few hours she was 
unable to proceed, and soon she was frozen in solidly. 



VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE 75 

To the southwest lay Herald island, which the men 
attempted to explore. Taking a dog sledge, they traveled 
to within six miles of the beach, where they found open 
water, so that they were obliged to return to the ship with- 
out setting foot on land. They found the ship drifting 
with the ice, and in danger of being crushed between the 



W0^f^ 




» T: z : /?Rmiifi 


i - : ' 7s ^Mt - »• 




The "Jeannette" in the Ice Pack. 

huge masses which surrounded her. Thundering noises 
from far away could be heard as the blocks of ice ground 
and grated together. At times the ice separated near the 
ship, leaving it in clear water. Again, the pack closed up 
about the stanch little vessel, which was like an eggshell 
at the mercy of enormous blocks of floating ice. 

But all this time the Jeannette was drifting, and at length 
she came in sight of Wrangel Land. Before De Long 
lost sight of this land, he satisfied himself that it was an 



y6 THE FROZEN NORTH 

island, and not a part of Greenland as some explorers had 
supposed. 

On November 10 the black Arctic night began, which 
lasted until January 25. The bitterness of the cold dur- 
ing this long period of darkness is inconceivable. The 
surface water was usually at a temperature of 29 F., the 
freezing point of salt water. 

Notwithstanding their discomforts, the men followed a 
regular routine. At seven o'clock in the morning all on 
board were called and the fires were started in the galleys. 
At nine o'clock the explorers ate their breakfast. From 
eleven until one o'clock every man took his gun and went 
out on the ice to exercise. At three in the afternoon din- 
ner was served, and the galley fires were put out in order to 
save coal. Between seven and eight o'clock tea was made. 
The crew lived on pork and beans, salt beef, and canned 
goods. Sometimes, when the hunters were successful, they 
had the meat of the seal, bear, or walrus. For amusements 
there were theatricals and a navigation class. 

For one year and nine months the Jeannette floated in 
the pack, at the mercy of wind and tide. The coldest 
weather came in February, when the thermometer regis- 
tered 5 8° below zero. In spite of the windings and turn- 
ings of their course, the general direction was toward the 
northwest. De Long trusted to the strength of his ship to 
withstand the pressure of the ice, and float across the pole 
out into the Atlantic ocean. At length, on May 17, 1881, 
land was sighted. It proved to be an island not indicated 
on the chart of that region. De Long therefore claimed it 
as a discovery, and named it Jeannette island. Another 
island was discovered not far away, and called Henrietta. 

A sledge party under Melville was sent out from the 
ship to explore this island. The ice over which they 



VOYAGE OF THE J E ANNETTE 77 

traveled consisted of large blocks that floated rapidly and 
were constantly changing their position. Sometimes the 
men were obliged to jump into the water and swim from 
one block to another. The dogs were almost useless ; they 
refused to jump, and tried to run away. The men pushed 
them into the water, and then they had to swim for their 
lives. This seems cruel treatment, but Arctic exploration 
means severe suffering for all who engage in it, and the 
help of the dogs was absolutely necessary. 

Henrietta island was rocky and ice-capped, not in itself 
a very valuable possession for the United States of America ; 
yet the Stars and Stripes were set up there, and a square 
copper case, containing copies of the New York Herald 
and a record of the voyage, was placed in a cairn. Then 
the sledge party returned to the ship. The Jeannette was 
in dire distress, for the ice around her, now rapidly break- 
ing up, was by turns receding and closing in. Every time 
it closed in, it pressed against her sides with tremendous 
force, so that her timbers fairly creaked. 

But brave Captain De Long would not leave his ship 
until he was quite certain that she was going to sink, and 
her hold was full of water before he gave orders to aban- 
don her. Then the crew had to work with desperate haste 
to transfer provisions, tents, and boats to a safe place on 
the ice. At four o'clock in the morning of June 13, the 
Jeannette sank to the bottom of the Arctic ocean. The 
ice closed over the place where the little vessel had en- 
dured such terrific grinding for twenty-one months, and 
only a cabin chair and a few pieces of wood remained to 
mark the spot. 

Imagine the condition of the men left on the ice so many 
miles from land. But they worked with calm courage to 
arrange their provisions and all the articles which were 



yS THE FROZEN NORTH 

needful for camping on the sledges, and four days after 
the Jeci7inette had sunk, the retreat across the ice began. 

This march was one of the most difficult ever under- 
taken. In one day the travelers could cover a distance of 
only a mile, or at most a mile and a half. Thirteen times 
they were compelled to go over the road, seven times with 
loads, six times without, traveling a distance of twenty-six 
miles in order to cover an advance of two miles. Many 
of the party were taken ill and had to be carried by their 
companions. 

At the end of the week, De Long found that the ice 
over which they were traveling had floated northwest 
faster than they had traveled south; consequently the 
party was twenty-seven miles farther away from the 
Siberian coast than when they started. De Long kept 
this disheartening fact a secret from his men, lest they 
should despair. 

On and on they traveled, day after day, until at last a 
dim line of land came into view ; it proved to be a new 
island, with rocky shores and steep sides. It was a diffi- 
cult task to cross the channel of water which separated 
the ice pack from this bleak coast, but Captain De Long 
ordered all his men to attempt the crossing. They raised 
the American flag and took possession of the island in the 
name of the President of the United States. This land De 
Long called Bennett island. Thousands of birds were 
found among the rocks, and the men had a refreshing 
feast after their weeks of weary work. The sides of Ben- 
nett island were bold and steep, and landslides occurred 
several times. 

It was thought best to continue the journey by water. 
There were three boats, and a part of the supplies was 
placed in each boat. De Long commanded one, Lieutenant 



VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE 79 

Chipps another, and Engineer Melville the third. When 
the New Siberian islands came in sight, the voyagers knew 
that they were nearing the mouth of the Lena river. This 
large stream flows across Siberia into the Arctic ocean. 
Its banks are usually occupied by tribes of Indians, who 
remain there during the summer season to fish and hunt. 
It was encouraging to know that land was so near, and 
the weary travelers kept bravely on, working with all their 
strength to steer through the masses of ice. It seemed as 
if two new perils sprang up for every danger escaped. In 
a heavy gale Lieutenant Chipps's boat went down, and De 
Long and Melville lost sight of each other. Melville at 
length succeeded in guiding his boat to the mouth of the 
Lena river, 

The country appeared to be deserted, and it seemed 
probable that they had escaped from drowning, only to 
perish from cold and starvation. But after they had trav- 
eled some distance up the river, and were just about to 
give up in despair, they met some natives. 

Melville ordered the natives to spread the report of the 
two missing boats wherever they went. Two of them were 
sent with dog teams as a searching party to the different 
towns on the delta. After thirteen days they returned 
with tidings of the missing crews. They had met two men 
of Captain De Long's party, Noros and Nindemann, who 
had succeeded in making their way to a deserted fishing 
station ; but they were in a pitiable condition. Although 
a severe storm was raging, Melville started immediately 
for this place with his dog team, carrying food with him. 

He found Noros and Nindemann in a small hut, nearly 
dead from cold and hunger. After making them com- 
fortable, and learning from them where they had left De 
Long, Melville pushed on. Storms delayed him in his 



80 THE FROZEN NORTH 

search, so that when he reached the part of the river where 
De Long's party was last seen, he abandoned all hope of 
finding any of them alive, for they had been without pro- 
visions two days when Nindemann left them, and that part 
of the country was entirely destitute of food. 

Yet Melville continued his search, determined to find the 
missing men, alive or dead. After heroic, untiring efforts, 
he found the dead bodies of his shipmates. They had 
perished five months before. 

After attending to the burial of his brave comrades, and 
rewarding the natives who had assisted him, Melville set 
out for home. He arrived in New York, September 13, 
1883, just one year from the day on which the three boats 
were separated in the gale. Due credit has been given 
Engineer Melville, both at home and abroad, for his 
promptness and energy in conducting the search for the 
lost crew of the Jeannette. 

The fate of the Jeannette and her crew often leads 
people to overlook the results secured by her voyage. The 
long drift of twenty-one months enabled the voyagers of 
this expedition to acquire considerable knowledge of the 
ocean. The ship traveled over a large area, sometimes 
moving almost in a circle. The depth of the ocean, the 
character of its bed and its drift were determined. Many 
kinds of animal life were studied, and two islands were dis- 
covered. 



XIII. GREELY IN GRINNELL LAND 
1881-1883 

Interest in the Frozen North became so great, that a 
conference of nations was held in Hamburg, Germany, in 
1879, to discuss plans by means of which knowledge of 
that part of the world might be advanced. Eleven coun- 
tries were represented, and it was decided to send out 
expeditions and establish stations for the purpose of mak- 
ing scientific observations. Fifteen expeditions were sent 
out by different countries, and fourteen stations were 
established. These stations were known as the Inter- 
national Circumpolar stations, and their work was to be 
cooperative. 

The United States decided to establish two stations, one 
at Point Barrow, Alaska, and the other in Lady Franklin 
bay. The command of the expedition to Point Barrow 
was given to Lieutenant Ray. Adolphus Washington 
Greely, a lieutenant in the United States Army, was 
offered command of the other, and when the enterprise 
was made national in 1881, he accepted the commission. 

The arrangements necessary for the journey were soon 
made, and Greely and his companions sailed on the 
Proteus to Newfoundland. They left that island on 
July 7, 1 88 1, and headed for the north. The Proteus 
sailed through Davis strait and Baffin bay, passing the 
wonderful "bird cliffs," which rise perpendicularly for 

81 



82 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



over a thousand feet out of the sea, and are broken only 
by narrow ledges. Neither Eskimo nor animal can reach 
these rocks, and here, safe from harm, the birds lay their 




Bird Cliffs. 



eggs and hatch out their young by the tens of thousands. 
Greely's men shot many birds and secured hundreds of 
eggs. 

The Proteus passed through Smith sound and Kennedy 
channel, and reached Lady Franklin bay in safety. She 



GREELY IN GRINNELL LAND 83 

anchored at last in Discovery bay, on the coast of Grinnell 
land, where Greely and his men went ashore to select a 
place suitable for a camp, to be named Fort Conger. Then 
the Proteus steamed away, leaving a small company of 
men alone in the Arctic solitude. But they were too busy 
to feel lonely, and began to work hard in order to make a 
comfortable home for themselves. The house was built of 
wood covered with tarred paper, and stations for the instru- 
ments were erected near at hand. 

The cliffs around Discovery harbor rise from a hundred 
to a thousand feet in height and nearly surround the bay, 
which contains about twenty square miles of ice floe. 
Game was plentiful. Large flocks of eider ducks visited 
an open pool near by, and herds of musk oxen were to be 
seen in the distance, grazing quietly. The Arctic summer 
was at its height, and the slopes were covered with grasses, 
mosses, and buttercups. 

Under the direction of Lieutenant Greely, the men took 
observations, explored the country, and built depots. The 
depots were built at convenient distances from Fort Conger, 
and were stored with supplies of food for the use of explor- 
ing parties. At last so much had been accomplished that 
Greely thought he might safely leave the camp and try to 
reach the interior of Grinnell land. 

With three companions he started from Fort Conger, 
April 26, 1882, traveling over ice which was in good con- 
dition, so that the party moved rapidly. Greely found 
that two openings along the coast, which he had sup- 
posed to be bays, were large fiords. Here he came 
upon layers of remarkably clear fresh-water ice. It 
was deep blue in color and contrasted beautifully with 
the opaque white ice of the ocean floes. Without doubt a 
river or glacier emptied into the fiord. Magnificent moun- 



84 THE FROZEN NORTH 

tain peaks round about rose to heights of thousands of feet 
above the sea level, and through the valleys, which were 
bare of snow, there were frequent traces of the musk ox, 
the fox, and the hare. 

A sharp turn brought the party to a large icebound lake 
about five hundred square miles in area, which Greely 
named Lake Hazen. To the north rose ranges of moun- 




tains, snow-covered and majestic, known as the Garfield 
range ; beyond these lay the United States range, also 
snow-covered. 

The next day Lake Hazen was crossed and a beautiful 
glacier discovered. It was five miles wide, and rose per- 
pendicularly one hundred and seventy-five feet out of the 
lake. Greely named it the Henrietta Nesmith glacier, in 
honor of his wife. 

The top of this glacier was white, like unpolished mar- 
ble. Lower down, the ice shaded into a bluish color, 
growing more delicate as it reached the foot, where it 
became white, with yellow and rose-colored tinges. There 



GREELY IN GRINNELL LAND 85 

were three deep gullies or channels in the glacier, through 
which a torrent had evidently rushed at some time ; and, 
strange as it may seem, the hills and slopes next it were 
covered with plants, lichens, willows, and Arctic poppies. 
In the valleys there was enough vegetation to serve as pas- 
ture for musk oxen and other animals. The interior of 
Grinnell land was a pleasant country, and Greely felt sorry 
to leave it and return to the coast. He had discovered 
and explored a large tract of land never before visited by 
civilized men. 

In June, 1882, Greely went again to the interior of 
Grinnell land. This time he discovered a number of 
small lakes, connected by streams with Lake Hazen. 

He also made the ascent of a mountain forty-five hundred 
feet in height. When he had climbed within half a mile of 
the top he was so tired that he felt he must give up. To 
urge himself onward, he kept throwing his field glasses 
ahead of him, and crawling on his hands and knees to the 
spot where they were. At last he could advance only fifty 
steps at a time, but he persevered and reached the top, to 
which he gave the name Mount Arthur. It is in all prob- 
ability the highest peak in Grinnell land, and from its sum- 
mit Greely saw the entire island spread out like a map 
before him. North of Lake Hazen rose the snow-clad 
mountains, extending range beyond range. A like view 
met his eye as he surveyed the country to the south, while 
in the interior he was gazing upon fertile valleys dotted 
with lakes, which supported herds of musk oxen. 

Greely spent only twenty minutes on the top of Mount 
Arthur. The temperature was far below zero, and he was 
in danger of freezing. When he began to descend, he 
decided to slide down a precipice a hundred feet in 
height, in order to save a long walk around the snow- 



86 THE FROZEN NORTH 

drifts. Luckily he landed in the soft snow. At the foot of 
the mountain Greely met his companions, and they re- 
turned all together to Fort Conger, well pleased with their 
journey. 

The next year Lieutenant Lockwood crossed Grinnell 
land, and on the western coast discovered a large fiord 
which he named Greely fiord. Both north and south of 
this region were large ice caps, which constantly discharged 
glaciers into the lakes and fiords. At Lake Hazen, as well 
as at many other places on the island, abandoned Eskimo 
huts were found, showing that the Eskimos had at one 
time occupied the island ; and many relics of these people 
were collected, among them a stone lamp, a bone spear- 
head, and a sledge. But at this time the island was entirely 
uninhabited. 



XIV. FARTHEST NORTH OF THE GREELY 

PARTY 

1882 

While Greely was exploring Grinnell land, another 
party from Fort Conger, under Lieutenant Lockwood, had 
forced its way across Robeson channel to the Greenland 
coast. Lockwood's party proceeded northward in the 
face of many severe trials. The thermometer registered 
8i° below the freezing point; add to this rough ice and 
severe winds, and we may faintly imagine the suffering 
endured. 

During a snowstorm the men were obliged to dig a 
hole in a snow bank and crawl into it for protection. 
But the opening soon filled up with drifting snow, and the 
air became so foul that the men were glad to creep out 
again. Sometimes the wind blew them over while they 
were at work, and once a fierce gust lifted one of the dog 
sledges, with its load of two hundred pounds, from the 
ground. Nevertheless, on April 27, 1882, the party reached 
Cape Bryant, where they camped and proceeded to explore 
the surrounding country. The men of the supporting 
party, as had been agreed, turned back at this point and 
returned to Fort Conger. 

Then Lieutenant Lockwood, Sergeant Brainard, and an 
Eskimo named Christianson set off to the north to Cape 
Britannia, taking with them enough food to last twenty- 

87 



88 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



five days. The ice was in fair condition for pushing 
rapidly forward, and they soon reached Cape Britannia, a 






An Arctic Snowstorm. 



towering cliff. The men climbed to the top and gazed 
around over the snow-covered mountain peaks. Then they 



FARTHEST NORTH OF THE GREELY PARTY 89 

descended and traveled on over land never before trodden 
by white men. They crossed Nordenskjold inlet and 
Chipps inlet, and at length reached a new island, which 
was named after Lieutenant Lockwood. It lies in latitude 
83 24/ north, but four hundred and fifty miles from the 
pole, and was at that time, 1882, the northernmost point 
yet attained by any nation. 

For three hundred years England had held the honor 
of penetrating farthest north. From the time of Henry 
Hudson, who, in 1607, reached latitude 8i° 30', the Eng- 
lish sailors had succeeded in going nearer to the pole than 
the explorers of any other nation. In 1875, an English 
Arctic expedition under Captain Nares, reached latitude 
83 20' north. Now, Lockwood and Brainard had gained 
for America the glory of penetrating the farthest north. 

From a height of twenty-six hundred feet these two men 
saw fields of ice extending to the north as far as the hori- 
zon. To the northeast they saw Cape Washington, which 
is twenty-eight miles above Cape Columbia, the most 
northern point of Grinnell land. Cape Washington is 
the northernmost known limit of Greenland, lying in lati- 
tude 83 38'. After battling so long with the fierce gales 
and severe weather, the two men were so exhausted that 
they could with difficulty return to the camp. Shortly 
after their return it was decided to go back to Fort Conger. 
Two of the party were snow-blind and had to be led. The 
three brave travelers were greeted with delight by the rest 
of the party. 

Their success in reaching the highest latitude yet at- 
tained was discussed at every meal. The time passed 
rapidly at Fort Conger, for the men were very busy, but 
presently they became anxious. The visiting ship which 
was expected in the summer of 1882, with supplies and 



9<3 THE FROZEN NORTH 

recruits, did not arrive, and Greely prepared to pass a sec- 
ond winter at Fort Conger. When August, 1883, came 
and no visiting ship had yet made its appearance, it is no 
wonder that the men were disheartened. 

At length, weary of waiting, and certain that it meant 
death to remain a third winter at Fort Conger, Greely 
decided to retreat to the south, hoping to meet the ship. 
He expected, at least, to find that provisions had been 
placed in depots, for his relief. The little steam launch, 
the Lady Greely, towed two other small boats through 
the narrow channels. Small amounts of food were found 
in different caches or depots along the route, though not 
enough to bring much relief. The party was now on the 
verge of starvation. Only after a desperate struggle did 
they succeed in reaching Cape Sabine, where they erected 
stone huts and prepared to pass the winter as best they 
might. Some of the party tried to hunt, but game had 
disappeared and darkness was close upon them. Their 
condition was indeed pitiable ; their clothing was in rags, 
they had no fuel and but forty days' rations. 

But the United States had not forgotten the brave men 
who were risking their lives to make her name glorious. 
The Neptune, the Proteus, and the Yantic had been sent 
to relieve Greely during 1882 and 1883. Every one of 
these vessels, however, failed to reach him ; moreover, 
they neglected to deposit supplies where he might have 
found them. 

In the winter of 1883 and 1884, under the personal 
direction of Secretary Chandler, two vessels, the Thetis 
and the Bear, were bought and equipped for the relief of 
Greely. The Thetis was commanded by Commodore 
W. S. Schley, and sailed from New York on May 1, 1884. 
On board the Thetis was Chief Engineer Melville, who had 



FARTHEST NORTH OF THE GREELY PARTY 91 

made the heroic search for De Long of the ill-fated Jean- 
nette. Melville himself had urged this relief expedition for 
Greely, and his energy and knowledge brought success. 

Congress offered a reward of $25,000 to any vessel 
not in the navy, which should first find the missing men, 
and many a whaler went north in the attempt to win the 
prize. These vessels, though unsuccessful in the search, 
did some good, for they helped to break a passage through 
the ice. 

The men of the Thetis, under Commodore Schley, did not 
delay a moment, or wait for favorable leads. When they 
could not advance in any other way, they tried to blast 
the ice in front and so force a passage. They fought 
the ice as they would fight a foe, never swerving from 
their one object — to reach Greely in as short a time as 
possible. Every possible effort was made, and by June 6 
the Thetis reached Melville bay. Little by little she forged 
ahead, and reached the neighborhood of Smith sound. 

Here all the men who could be spared were sent ashore 
to search for records, and at last one of the men came upon 
a cairn, which he opened. In it he found a bundle of 
Greely's papers, photographs, and records. The most 
recent record was dated September, 1883, nine months 
before. It stated that the party had gone into camp 
four and a half miles west of Cape Sabine. Commodore 
Schley immediately ordered a party of men to take the 
steam cutter and find the camp. The Thetis then blew 
her whistles to call the search parties back to the ship. 

The men of Greely's party in the wretched tent at 
Camp Clay heard the whistles and knew that a vessel 
must be somewhere near, yet they were too weak to go in 
search of it, and too hopeless to believe that any one was 
near enough to find them. One man did crawl out and 



92 THE FROZEN NORTH 

try to raise an oar with three rags on it, as a signal of 
distress, but the furious wind tore it down. 

The sharp eyes of the men in the steam cutter saw this 
man. They ran the boat inshore and were soon question- 
ing him about his companions. He told them that they 
were over the hill, and that seven of them still lived, 
among them Lieutenant Greely. The ice pilot jumped out 
of the boat and ran to the camp. He was the first of the 
party to speak to Lieutenant Greely, as he had been the 
last to see him when the Proteus steamed away from Discov- 
ery harbor three years before. Greely directed him to cut 
the back out of the tent with his pocket knife. When this 
was done, Greely on his hands and knees in his sleeping 
bag peered out. His hair and beard were long and mat- 
ted, his face was covered with soot and dirt, and his eyes 
glittered with excitement. He heard with joy that help 
had arrived and that he and his companions were saved. 
In the midst of a terrific wind storm, the surviving men 
of Greely's party were transferred to the Thetis and made 
comfortable. 

Then came the dreadful work of collecting the bodies of 
the dead and carrying them aboard the ships, after which 
the Thetis and the Bear set sail from Camp Clay and headed 
for home. The ship reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
August i, 1884, where Greely and his command were trans- 
ferred to the navy yard, while the bodies of the dead were 
taken to Governor's island in New York harbor. 

Thus ended one of the most successful and rapid relief 
voyages ever made. Had Commodore Schley been more 
cautious, not a man of Greely's party would have been 
found alive. But Schley knew that this was a time for 
both courage and daring, and neither he nor any of his 
command lacked in these qualities. 



FARTHEST NORTH OF THE GREELY PARTY 93 

Greely and the other survivors of his expedition received 
a royal welcome home. The President of the United 
States thanked them publicly on behalf of the nation, the 
Queen of England sent messages of inquiry and sympathy, 
and the people of Portsmouth held a grand reception in 
their honor. The government sent several large war vessels 
to the harbor, and Mr. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy, and 
other prominent men came with them. The shores of the 
river were lined with people and the harbor was filled with 
steamers, sailboats, and smaller craft, all gayly decorated 
with flags and bunting. Everybody was eager to wel- 
come the brave men who had risked their lives and suffered 
so much in seeking to penetrate still farther into the Frozen 
North. 

Those members of the expedition who lost their lives in 
this journey were not forgotten. A public funeral was 
held at Governor's island, and every respect was paid to 
the memories of these men. 

The results of Greely's work in the Arctic regions were 
many. The programme for international scientific work 
had been carried out daily. All magnetic and climatic 
changes had been noted. The effect of the sun's rays, the 
earth and ocean currents, the atmosphere, electricity, ice, 
and tides had been observed. A study had been made, 
also, of the animal and vegetable life of the locality, and 
of the Eskimos. 

Both this Circumpolar station and the one established 
at Point Barrow were abandoned in 1883, but the value of 
the work accomplished through them was very great. 



XV. LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA 

1883 

Alaska was purchased by the United States from Russia 
in 1867. It was supposed to be a barren region of ice and 
snow, and many people thought that the price of $7,200,000 
was an amount far in excess of the value of the land. 

For many years no attempt was made to form a terri- 
torial government in Alaska, and the country remained in 
charge of the military forces of the United States. In 1883, 
Lieutenant Schwatka determined to conduct an exploring 
expedition into the interior, for the purpose of gaining such 
information of the country and its wild inhabitants as would 
be of assistance to the soldiers stationed there. This expe- 
dition did not have the support of Congress and was kept 
as secret as possible. Lieutenant Schwatka feared that, if 
attention were attracted to the expedition, Congress would 
forbid its departure. 

All Schwatka's plans worked well. With six companions 
he left Portland, Oregon, at midnight, May 22, and sailed 
northward, taking the inland route to Alaska. The inland 
route consists of a channel which lies between the coast of 
Washington and British Columbia and southeastern Alaska 
and the line of islands which lie off that coast. 

Sitka, then the capital of Alaska, was reached in a little 
more than a week, and two days later the ship dropped 
anchor in a pretty port called Pyramid harbor, near the 
mouth of the Chilkat river. The villages of the Chilkat 

94 



LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA 



95 



Indians, consisting of from fifteen to fifty houses each, are 
built along this river. At these villages Lieutenant Schwatka 
secured the services of about sixty Indians to go with him 
on his journey. 

The party started over a good trail and soon reached 
Haines's mission on Chilkoot inlet. Here more Indians 




Sitka, Alaska, in 1880. 



were added to the number already employed, and the 
tramp began over the mountains to the head waters of 
the Yukon. At first the party traveled through a river- 
like channel between high, steep mountains, which were 
covered nearly to the top with pine, cedar, and spruce 
trees. The summits were covered with snow and ice, 
which melted and formed cascades and torrents, and 
rushed down the slopes, dashing over precipices and fling- 
ing spray in all directions. 



90 THE FROZEN NORTH 

This journey brought them to the mouth of a river called 
the Dayay, where they camped. Schwatka now explained 
his plan to his Indian guides. He told them that when he 
should reach the Yukon, he intended to build a raft and 
float down the great river to its mouth. The Indians 
were astonished at this bold project. They ridiculed the 
idea, saying that no raft could make such a journey. 
There were lakes to pass through, they said, and miles of 
raging rapids, which would twist and tear any raft to 
pieces. But Schwatka paid no attention to their opinions. 
He kept steadily on his way, and the journey continued 
pleasant and easy through the Dayay river. 

On June 10, the course lay over the spurs of the moun- 
tains, and travel became difficult. The trail was up and 
down hill, over huge trunks of fallen trees, and through 
boggy swamps. Each man carried one hundred pounds 
of luggage on his back, and when he sank into a bog up 
to his knees, it was far from easy to get out. 

The snow line reached, the ascent of the pass over the 
Coast range was begun. Behind one another, in single 
file, the men scrambled up precipices and through val- 
leys. Sometimes they crawled along on their hands and 
knees, often using their teeth to grasp a dwarf bush. 
In many places a single misstep would have resulted in 
death, but they persevered and at length succeeded in 
crossing the mountains without accident. 

Most of the Indians left Schwatka at this place and 
returned to their homes. Those who were to accompany 
him down the Yukon river to the coast camped with the 
white men, late in the evening, by a small lake called by 
Schwatka, Crater lake. It is the source of the great 
Yukon river. 

At Lake Lindeman the raft was built, and the stores 



LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA 



97 



and provisions were placed upon it. Then began the 
longest raft journey ever made for purposes of exploration. 
Lieutenant Schwatka and his companions propelled the 
raft, by means of rowing and sculling, through Lake Linde- 
man into another lake called Bennett lake. On the moun- 
tains around Bennett lake were beautiful blue glaciers, 




Crossing the Coast Range. 



and among them shone peaks and ridges of a reddish 
color. Schwatka concluded that the red color was due 
to the presence of iron in the soil, and he accordingly 
named the range the Iron-capped mountains. 

The explorers now traveled through a chain of lakes 
connected by streams of water. The last lake led them 
into the Yukon river, which flowed rapidly, so that for a 
while the raft made good time. On July I, the party 
came in sight of the upper end of the Grand Canon of the 



98 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Yukon, where the river, which had been about three hun- 
dred yards in width, grew narrower, until it was about 
thirty yards wide. 

The walls of the canon are nearly a mile in length and 
are perpendicular columns of rock. The center of this 
canon expands into a large basin full of whirlpools and 
eddies. The waters, white with foam, tear through this 
narrow passage of rock at the rate of six or seven miles 
an hour, with a roaring that can be heard at a great 
distance. 

At the northern end of the canon the rushing river 
widens again, but for four miles it seethes, foams, and 
falls in cascades. The luggage was sent round by por- 
tage, and Schwatka prepared to shoot his raft through the 
rapids. Once started, the men could not control or guide 
the raft at all, but left it to work its own way. This it did 
very successfully, though many times they thought it would 
surely be dashed in pieces. 

After the rapids were passed, the men drew the sturdy 
raft ashore, and found that it needed but few repairs. 
While some of the men were engaged in mending the raft, 
the others fished. Schwatka found this the best fishing 
ground on the entire river; in a short time between 
four and five hundred fine grayling were caught with rod 
and fly. 

The raft was ready for use again by July 5, and on that 
day Schwatka and his party started once more down the 
Yukon, and soon passed through the last lake they were to 
encounter. After this the river became wider and was 
dotted with islands ; then the site of old Fort Selkirk came 
into view. 

Fort Selkirk was built in 1850 by the Hudson Bay Trad- 
ing Company for a trading post with the Indians. But 



LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA 



99 



the Chilkats wanted the furs from the interior for them- 
selves ; so they gathered a war party together, descended 
the Yukon river to Fort Selkirk, burned the building, and 
carried off the goods. Now all that remains of Fort 
Selkirk is a group of three old chimneys. 




Tanana Station, River Yukon, in Winter. 



Schwatka camped at this spot several days. Near the 
river bank he came upon a burial ground of the Ayan 
Indians, who inhabit this part of the country. A fence of 
rough boards, bound together by willows, is built around 
each grave. Above the grave there stands a long, light 
pole about twenty feet high, with a piece of colored cloth 
hanging from the top. Near the grave, but outside the 
inclosure, stands another pole of about the same height. 
To the top of this second* pole is fastened a rude carving 
of a fish, duck, goose, bear, or some other animal or bird. 



100 THE FROZEN NORTH 

These poles are called totems. They represent the most 
clever workmanship of these Indians, and are collected 
and sold as curiosities. Some of the carvings are very old 
and display remarkable skill. No one knows exactly what 
these totem poles mean, as the Indians are unwilling to 
talk about them, but they are supposed to indicate in some 
way the history of the buried person or of his tribe. The 
Indians do not make totem poles any more, but they care- 
fully preserve those which they already have. 

At Fort Selkirk the Yukon begins to cut through the 
northern spurs of the Rocky mountains. This part of the 
river is known as the Upper Ramparts, and the scenery 
along the banks for one hundred miles is wondrously 
beautiful. Schwatka and his party left Selkirk July 15, 
and traveled through this beautiful country. As they 
rounded one of the islands, they saw about two hundred 
Ayan Indians gathered on the beach opposite, waiting to 
receive them. 

The Ayans had heard of the approach of the curious 
raft with its white owners, and were anxious to show them 
some attention. Many of the Indians ran up and down 
the bank, shouting, screaming, and waving their arms 
wildly. Others in birch-bark canoes surrounded the raft, 
and escorted it to shore. When the raft came near the 
shore, men, women, and children waded out to their waists 
in the ice-cold water and helped to drag it in. Schwatka 
feared at first that the Indians might do the party some 
harm, and ordered his companions to keep their guns near. 
But the Indians were very friendly. They began singing 
and dancing, while their medicine-man went through the 
most unheard-of performances. 

The Ayan huts are made of spruce brush. Over the 
top is thrown a piece of dirty canvas or a moose or caribou 



LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA IOI 

skin, and the huts are built so low that a man can scarcely 
stand erect inside. Quantities of salmon hang from the 
roof, partly dried, but still undergoing a smoking process 
from the dense clouds of smoke that arise from the fire. 
The dogs sleep in the house, lying around on the floor. 
In the winter the Ayans cover their tents thickly with 
skins and then bank them about with snow. 

As the party followed the river from this Indian village, 
they found the mountains becoming higher and grander, 
while — by way of contrast — the mosquitoes grew more 
annoying. The whole region swarmed with them, and the 
newcomers longed for veils. They were obliged to use 
small bushes to brush away the mosquitoes. 

The water of the Yukon became very muddy, so that it 
was impossible to fish with a rod and fly. At the Yukon 
flat lands, reached by our travelers after three weeks of 
traveling through this flat region, the river widened and 
was filled with low, sandy islands. The fort is situated on a 
curve of the river which happens to be almost directly 
upon the Arctic circle, and is called the Great Arctic bend. 

Fort Yukon is about one thousand miles from the mouth 
of the river, which at this point is seven miles wide. The 
river steamer, named the Yukon, was moored at the fort, 
and her cannon greeted the raftsmen. The settlement 
consists of a few old houses and the old fort built by the 
Hudson Bay Company. The Fort Yukon tribe of Indians 
live in the vicinity, but the hunting and fishing are poor, 
and the tribe is small and nomadic. 

After the river men had traded with the Indians the 
steamer proceeded upstream, while Schwatka and his 
party started downstream again on the raft. In a little 
while the country began to grow hilly once more, greatly 
to the delight of the travelers, for the low region had been 



:02 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



unendurably dreary. The hilly region is known as the 
Lower Ramparts, and its scenery is much like that of the 
Upper Ramparts. 

Another trading station was soon reached, where 
Schwatka saw the northernmost garden in the United 
States. This garden, within two days' journey of the 
polar regions, belonged to the white man who was in 
charge of the station at that point. In it were growing 




The Raft on which a Journey of Thirteen Hundred and Three 
Miles was made. 



turnips and other hardy vegetables, which tasted delicious 
to the men, who had been living so long upon canned 
foods. 

The raft was laid away at this place, after its journey of 
thirteen hundred and three miles, and the party embarked 
on a schooner, hoping to make better time. But they were 
forced to work their way down the river inch by inch, for 
heavy winds sprang up and more than once threatened to 
wreck the schooner. The Yukon at last overtook them, 



LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA 103 

on her return to the mouth of the river, as Schwatka had 
expected. 

The great delta of the Yukon soon came into view. It 
consists of many islands and channels which have never 
been entirely explored. From the most northern mouth 
of the delta to the most southern is a distance of ninety 
miles. After the Alphoon, the northernmost mouth, was 
reached, a weary time began. The vessel slowly threaded 
her way through shallow channels of water and between 
mud banks, until she crept into the harbor of the little 
village of St. Michael on the coast. From this place 
Schwatka and his party embarked for San Francisco on 
the Leo, which had stopped at St. Michael on its way from 
Point Barrow. 

By this raft journey of Lieutenant Schwatka, the Yukon 
was navigated from its source to its mouth, a distance of 
two thousand and forty-four miles. 

This river is the fifth in length in the United States, 
and sends forth such a volume of water that it freshens 
Bering sea to a distance of ten miles. 



XVI. NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 



Schwatka had explored the interior of Alaska, but the 
interior of Greenland remained as great a mystery as ever. 
The only man who had attempted to cross the inland 
region was Nordenskjold, who had penetrated only a few 
miles. 

In 1888 a young Norwegian named Fridtjof Nansen 
determined to cross the ice cap of Greenland. 

Nansen was an expert in the use of the ski. Ski are 
Norwegian snowshoes. They consist of long, narrow 
strips of wood, which are fastened to the shoes in about 
the same way in which we fasten skates. The ski are 
about eight feet in length and three or four inches in 
breadth. In front they are slightly pointed and curved 
up ; often the back is pointed also. A man who is skillful 
in the use of ski can travel over the snow by means of 
them at a rate of eight or nine miles an hour. In Norway 
and in some other cold countries, where the snow lies deep 
a larger part of the year, ski are much used for traveling. 

The people of Norway love the sport of ski-lobning. 
During the long winter the boys and the girls go to and 
from school on ski. At recess they take a run on their ski, 
and often the teacher goes with them. 

Nansen learned to use the ski when a boy, and after 
he was grown up he took great pleasure in strapping 

104 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 



105 



these queer shoes to his feet and trying to climb the high 
mountains. 

One day this question came suddenly into Nansen's mind : 
Why might not a party of good ski-lobners cross Green- 
land from coast to coast ? After thinking the matter over 
for a time, Nansen concluded that it could be done. From 




A Man on Ski, 



that moment he devoted all his time and energy to carry- 
ing out his idea. He decided that the best plan would 
be to start from the east coast and travel across to the 
west. The east coast was barren and uninhabited. Some- 
times a few wandering Eskimo tribes found their way 
there, but no settlements had been made. On the western 
coast there were settlements. 



io6 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



Nansen knew that if his party landed on the east coast 
and traveled west, they would travel toward safety. If 
this route were reversed, they would leave comfort and 
safety behind at every step, and move continually toward 
unknown dangers. The men might become discouraged, 
give up the expedition, and return to the settlements. So 

Nansen coolly made his plans 
to land on the east coast and 
cross Greenland to the west 
coast. By this arrangement 
the men would perceive that 
they must reach the west 
coast or die. 

The government of Nor- 
way would not assist Nansen. 
His plan was considered that 
of a madman. Many people 
said that he was attempting 
to do an impossible thing; 
Others said, " Of what use is 
this exploit, even if he does 
succeed ? " These people did 
not know that a large por- 
tion of our earth was once 
ice-covered, as Greenland is 
to-day. If we would know the cause of many curious phe- 
nomena that now exist in our own land, we must study 
Greenland. As Greenland is now, so, probably, was a large 
part of the earth during the ice age, thousands of years ago. 
Though Nansen met with discouragements on every 
side, he continued to plan for the trip. At length a 
wealthy Danish gentleman gave him enough money to 
equip an expedition. It was not easy for Nansen to find 




Fridtjof Nansen. 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 



107 



companions for this journey, but he at length succeeded 
in securing the services of three Norwegians and two 
Lapps. The Norwegians were Otto Sverdrup, a retired 
ship captain, Oluf Dietrichson, a lieutenant in the army, 
and Kristian Kristiansen Trana, a peasant. The Lapps 
were named Balto and Ravna. Balto was a good-looking 
young man, who spoke a little English ; he was a sea Lapp 




A Herd of Reindeer. 



and lived in a town. Ravna was a mountain Lapp, forty- 
five years of age. He was short, and had long, black hair 
hanging over his shoulders. Ravna's home was on the 
mountains, where he lived in a skin tent and took care of 
herds of reindeer. 

Nansen made sure that all these five men were skillful 
ski-lobners, for he thought that, when they reached the 
inland ice of Greenland, the journey would be rapid and 
easy on ski. 

Then Nansen arranged with the captain of a sealing 



108 THE FROZEN NORTH 

vessel to carry him and his companions to the Arctic 
ocean. After collecting tents, clothing, .food, sleeping 
bags, and scientific instruments, the party proceeded to 
Iceland, where the captain of the sealing vessel had 
promised to call for them. On June 3, 1888, the sealing 
vessel, the Jason, arrived off the coast of Iceland, and 
Nansen and his companions were taken aboard. The 
Jason headed directly for Denmark strait, where seals 
abound, and in a short time the ship was among the 
ice floes. Every one on board was watching eagerly for 
seals, and at last a large number of the quiet creatures 
were seen lying like black dots on the floes. 

On board the Jason there was great excitement. The 
men flew about, making sure that rifles were clean and in 
good order and that cartridge boxes were filled. Then the 
hunters rushed to the boats and the capture began. One 
hundred and eighty-seven seals were shot that day. The 
sealers thought this a small number, but Nansen, who had 
never hunted seals before, thought it a very good day's 
sport. 

Sealing vessels, in their efforts to make large hauls, 
usually push steadily on through the ice, until they are in 
the midst of crowds of seals. The force of the ice against 
the ship is often so great as to throw the sailors off their 
feet. When the vessel is well in among the seals the 
engines are stopped, and the men are ordered to start out 
in the small boats. There are three or four oarsmen with 
one shooter in each boat. Away they go in different direc- 
tions, each boat trying to secure the greatest number it can 
carry and to return first to the ship. The seals lie all 
around on the edges of the ice floes, and at first pay no 
attention to the boats. They lift their heads and see the 
boats coming from a long distance away; then, ignorant 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 109 

of their danger, they lower their heads again and lie 
quiet. 

As the boats draw nearer, the seals sometimes slide off 
into the water. The hunters are quick to see any move- 
ment on the part of the seals. As soon as one moves 
toward the water, the men in the boat begin to shout as 
loudly as they can. The seal is so astonished by the un- 
usual noise that he lies still awhile to think it over. 

Then the hunter takes aim, and if he shoots the animal 
through the head, it drops down on the ice again and dies. 
The other seals near by are not disturbed. They seem to 
think that their companion has gone quietly to sleep again, 
and that there can be no danger. Often several seals are 
shot in this way before the rest become alarmed. 

Sometimes the shooter misses his mark and wounds the 
seal instead of killing him instantly. The wounded seal 
in his pain splashes around on the ice and in the water, 
and the others take fright and plunge into the sea. A 
great deal, therefore, depends upon the skill of the shooters, 
most of whom are accurate marksmen. 

When several seals have been shot, the men in the boat 
spring to the floes where they are lying and skin them. 
The skinning is done rapidly with long, sharp knives, and 
nothing is saved except the skin and the layer of blubber 
lying next it. The entire body of the seal is left on the ice. 
The Eskimos would think this practice very wasteful, for 
they make use of every part of the seal, including the bones. 

As sealers sometimes return from a trip to Denmark 
strait with five thousand skins aboard, it is not surprising 
that seals are becoming scarce in that locality. 

Nansen was glad when the haul of seals was over and 
the Jason steamed away again toward Greenland. Several 
times the coast had been sighted, but the ship had never 



HO THE FROZEN NORTH 

drawn near enough to make it possible to land. Balto 
was not very well pleased with his first glimpse of Green- 
land. In his account of his voyage, he said that the coast 
had no beauty nor charm to the eye, but was dismal and 
hideous to look upon ; that the mountain peaks were very 
high and rose like church steeples into the clouds, which 
hid the summits. 

But Nansen thought the coast beautiful. The snow- 
covered peaks glittered in the sunlight and extended as 
far as the eye could reach, while far to the west stretched 
the vast white plain of inland ice. 

On July 17, 1888, as the Jason was not more than ten or 
twelve miles from the coast of Greenland, Nansen made 
up his mind to leave the ship. All the baggage was 
brought on deck, farewells were said, and at seven o'clock 
in the evening Nansen and his five companions climbed 
down the ship's ladder and embarked in two boats. The 
Jason's guns saluted; the Jason's crew cheered. But deep 
down in their hearts the sailors believed that Nansen and 
his men were going to certain death. No thought of fear, 
however, disturbed the brave band. With the exception of 
Balto and Ravna, they were all delighted to enter upon 
the perilous journey. 

At first everything went well. There were channels of 
water between the floes, wide enough for the boats to pass 
through. But soon the ice began to pack, and the boats 
had to be pulled up upon the floes and dragged across to 
open water. It was hard to keep the light craft from 
being crushed between the ice masses. Then the current 
became so strong that the men were obliged to draw the 
boats up on a floe, in order to escape from it. 

The ice which had collected around them threw the 
smaller floes upon the larger ones, making the ice uneven 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 



III 



and difficult to traverse. After working all night, the men 
crawled into their sleeping bags, and were soon asleep. 

For several days little progress was made toward land. 
Then a heavy swell arose and the breakers dashing over 
the floe where the tent had been pitched threatened to 
wash it away. 




Nansen's Camp on the Drift Ice. 

Suddenly the floe split through the middle, and the 
travelers were obliged to remove to a larger one and camp 
again. The tent stood now on a piece of drifting ice, 
about ten miles from land, with every prospect of being 
carried out to sea, where small boats could not live in the 
heavy waves. The outlook was certainly gloomy. 

One morning Nansen missed Balto and Ravna. In 
searching for them he lifted the canvas covering of one of 
the boats, and saw the two Lapps lying in the bottom of 



112 THE FROZEN NORTH 

the boat, side by side. Balto was reading to Ravna from 
his Lappish New Testament, for both had made up their 
minds that they must drown, and were preparing for death. 

That day the ice tilted and rolled like a raft on the 
angry waves, so that it was almost impossible to cook 
the soup for their dinner. The poor frightened Lapps 
did not speak a word, but the rest of the men knew no 
fear, and -laughed and joked as usual. 

When night came, all the men, except Balto and Sver- 
drup, went to bed in the tent ; Balto preferred to sleep in 
a boat, and Sverdrup was to keep watch. 

Slowly and calmly, brave Otto Sverdrup paced up and 
down the ice. The floe rocked like a ship at sea, and the 
heavy waves dashed over it, threatening to wash away the 
entire camp. Several times Sverdrup was obliged to hold 
the boat in which Balto was sleeping, to keep it from 
being swept off the ice. Once it seemed that the tent 
must be washed off also, and Sverdrup stepped up to it 
and unfastened one of the hooks. He meant to call the 
men, so that they might get into the boats, and, if pos- 
sible, escape with their lives. But Sverdrup paused a 
moment. The sea seemed to grow quieter, and a current 
arose which quieted the breakers and changed the course 
of the drifting ice, which, instead of sailing out to sea, now 
floated in the opposite direction. 

When Nansen awoke in the morning, he was surprised 
to find the open sea far off, and the ice drifting calmly 
toward the land. All the party rejoiced that they had 
remained on the ice, which at one time seemed so dan- 
gerous. Their safety was due to the fearlessness and 
calm judgment of Sverdrup. 

The work of launching the boats and dragging them 
over the ice continued for a week longer. One morning 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 113 

Nansen was resting quietly in his tent, when Ravna, who 
was on watch without, pulled aside the canvas and peered 
in. He appeared so excited that Nansen asked him if he 
could see land. "Yes, yes," replied Ravna, "land too 
near!" — meaning, "land very near." Nansen sprang 
from his sleeping bag and looked out. Land was very 
near, and there was open water in front of them. The 
boats were quickly launched. After some hours of hard 
pulling the party found a harbor and landed. 

The voyagers rejoiced to be on land once more. They 
walked over the stones and rocks, and picked moss and a 
stalk or two of grass. They had a good dinner to cele- 
brate the landing : biscuit, cheese, and jam to eat, and hot 
chocolate to drink. When dinner was over, they started 
north again in boats along the coast, for Nansen wished to 
begin his journey across Greenland farther to the north 
than the place where he had landed. 

The travelers picked their way on along the coast until a 
great glacier came in sight, which Nansen knew to be the 
famous Puisortok. Puisortok means the place where some- 
thing shoots up, and the Eskimos regard the spot with fear. 
When they pass this dreadful place they will not speak, 
laugh, eat, nor smoke. They will not look toward the gla- 
cier, or even mention the name Puisortok. They believe 
that if they do any of these things the glacier will become 
angry and cause their death. 

Balto was one day gazing through the telescope near 
this place, when he saw two small black spots in the dis- 
tance which seemed to be moving rapidly toward him. As 
they grew more distinct, he shouted to Nansen that two 
men were coming. When they came nearer, the strangers 
proved to be two young East Greenland Eskimos traveling 
through the ice floes in their kayaks. 



114 THE FROZEN NORTH 

These Eskimos were short in stature and very good-look- 
ing. Their faces were broad and round, and their features 
regular. Their skin was chestnut-brown, and their hair 
long, black, and shiny. One wore a jacket and breeches 
of sealskin, with strings of beads in his hair, while the other 




A Group of Greenland Eskimos. 
After photograph by Nansen. 



wore sealskin trousers and a jacket of blue cotton. On 
their heads they wore large flat-brimmed hats, made of 
blue cotton stretched across a wooden ring. On the crown 
was a large red cross. 

The Eskimos showed great astonishment at the boats 
and other strange things that they saw, and when Nansen 
gave them some food, they seemed much pleased. By 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 115 

gestures they warned Nansen about the dangerous Puisor- 
tok, and then set off northward again in their kayaks. 

Nansen and his men passed Puisortok without any 
trouble, though they talked and laughed as usual. They 
looked at the dreaded glacier, and admired the beautiful 
color of the ice, which shaded from blue to a milky white. 
Yet old Puisortok showed no signs of anger. Soon the 
wayfarers came upon an Eskimo camp. High up among 
the rocks stood the skin tents, while the Eskimos themselves 
were gathered outside, running about in a highly excited 
manner, chattering and waving their arms. As the boats 
came nearer, the people on the land yelled and shrieked. 
Some ran to the shore, and some to high points on rocks, 
where they could get a better view of the strangers. 

They welcomed the newcomers with smiles of delight, 
and helped them in every possible way. Nansen and his 
friends were invited into the Eskimo tents. They re- 
mained inside as long as possible, but the filth soon drove 
them out. When Nansen and his men went to bed in 
their own tent, the Eskimos stood around in crowds, gap- 
ing curiously to see them undress and crawl into their 
sleeping bags. 

The Eskimos gave the white men pieces of sealskin, and 
in return their guests presented them with the empty tin 
cans in which their meat had been packed. These gifts 
pleased the natives very much. They contrived to make 
Nansen understand that two tribes, one traveling north 
and the other south, had met at this place, and that now 
they were preparing to separate and continue their journey. 
Nansen determined to accompany the tribe which was 
going north, because he thought that their knowledge of 
the coast might be of assistance to him. 

The accomplished Eskimos were not long in preparing 



Il6 THE FROZEN NORTH 

for the journey. In a twinkling the tents were down and 
everything was packed. Before they parted, the mem- 
bers of the different tribes bade one another good-by, rub- 
bing their noses together, instead of kissing. A few 
remained behind the others for a specially tender farewell. 
They drew up in a line like soldiers, and brought out snuff 
horns. One man would take snuff from a horn, and pass 
it on to the next. They spent several hours in this cere- 
mony, each man taking snuff many times. Nansen 
thought they would sneeze themselves to death. 

•Only the Eskimos who had come from the south had their 
horns full of snuff. The tribe from the north was bound 
for the Danish colonies on the southern coast, to procure 
this important article. The journey takes about two years, 
one year to reach the Danish colonies, and one year to 
return. When the colonies are reached, the Eskimos 
spend an hour or two in trading. After they obtain the 
snuff, they start on their homeward journey. Their form 
of snuff is simply tobacco, ground to a powder between 
stones. In exchange for the tobacco, the Eskimos give 
large, fine bearskins, foxskins, and sealskins. They pay 
high prices for articles which cost the white men very 
little money. 

When the farewell was over, the Eskimos parted, and 
Nansen tried to keep the north-bound travelers in sight, but 
he soon found that he must depend upon himself and break 
his own way through the ice. The journey grew harder 
and harder, and in camp the travelers were often tormented 
by swarms of mosquitoes. Clouds of the small insects 
swarmed around them and annoyed the men almost beyond 
endurance. Any amount of work in the ice was to be pre- 
ferred to an attack by mosquitoes. 

The party traveled through the water among huge ice- 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 117 

bergs ; they plodded wearily over ice hummocks ; finally, 
they drew up their boats for the last time at a place where 
Nansen thought they could climb the steep ascent from 
the coast, and reach the inland ice. 

The boats were left in a cleft in the rocks, carefully 
blocked with stones to keep them steady. Then began 









A View in the Interior of Greenland. 

the climb up the mountains to the plateau. The ascent 
was steep, and the men had hard work to drag up the 
sledges. Often one of the climbers would sink into a deep 
crevasse and have to be rescued by his companions. 

The crevasses grew deeper and more dangerous as the 
party advanced, and soon a rain storm set in, which delayed 
the travelers three days. While they were lying in the tents, 
the men followed the wise example of the bears and did no 
work. They ate very little and only once a day, but slept 
a great deal. 



II 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



When they took up the journey again, they found the 
ice hard. But a heavy snowstorm began, and it was diffi- 
cult to drag the sledges through the deep drifts. At last, 
when they reached a point six thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, the wind was blowing fiercely and the tem- 
perature stood at zero. 




v 



Sledging across Greenland. 



Nansen decided to rig a sail for the sledges, hoping 
by this contrivance to make the wind serve as an aid. 
Old Ravna was disgusted with the plan, and Balto, too, 
thought it absurd to try to sail on the snow. But Nansen 
made the sails, and the two Lapps were soon forced to 
admit that their use made the load lighter to draw, 

The snow was still very deep, and when, on August 30, 
it was in condition for the men to use the ski, they joyfully 
strapped them on. In a short time they had attained the 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 1 19 

plateau, and then for days they toiled over a flat, wide 
expanse of snow. The highest elevation which Nansen 
reached during this journey was nine thousand two hun- 
dred and seventy-two feet, and the lowest temperature he 
experienced was 49 below zero. 

The sledges were heavy, and the Lapps grumbled all the 
time, Ravna especially being very low-spirited. One day 
he said to Nansen : " I am an old Lapp, and a silly 
old fool, too. I don't believe we shall ever get to the 
coast." 

Nansen answered : " That is quite true, Ravna. You are 
a silly old fool." 

Ravna's spirits grew lighter when the party reached the 
highest part of the plateau and began to descend, for then 
they went along swiftly on their ski, or coasted down the 
slopes. Sometimes they encountered crevasses and had to 
pick their way carefully, and once Nansen fell into a deep 
chasm and had to scramble desperately to get out. When 
the bare rocks came in view, Ravna was so delighted that 
he insisted upon carrying a double load. He said that the 
mountain grasses and the reindeer moss reminded him of 
his own mountains at home. 

At last the travelers reached the sea and encamped in 
a sheltered valley. Nansen and Sverdrup built a rude boat 
and embarked for Godthaab, the nearest town on the coast, 
whence they sent back natives to bring their comrades to 
town. 

The Greenlanders took the two Lapps for women, be- 
cause of their long tunics of reindeer skin. But Ravna 
and Balto did not resent this mistake ; they were perfectly 
happy now and at ease. They told the natives about the 
wonderful things that they had seen during the journey 
over the inland ice. 



120 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



Nansen was sadly disappointed when he heard that he 
could not sail for home until the spring, for the ship on 
which he had hoped to sail had already gone. He sent 
two swift kayak travelers with letters, to try to overtake the 
ship at another town where she was to stop. 




Skating off the Coast of Greenland. 



Nansen and his companions spent the winter comfortably 
at Godthaab. They found plenty to keep them busy. 
Nansen learned to use the kayak skillfully ; he hunted 
and fished, and made two trips upon the inland ice. 

In the spring, when the ship arrived which was to take 
them home, all the party felt sorry to part with the good 
friends they had made in Greenland. The farewells over, 
Nansen was soon homeward bound. On May 30, 1888, 
the ship entered Christiania fiord. The harbor was filled 



NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 121 

with steamers and sailing vessels, all crowded with people, 
assembled to greet the man who had succeeded in crossing 
the inland ice of Greenland. Flags were waved, bells 
rung, and cheers were given with a will, to show the honor 
which Norway would pay her son, Fridtjof Nansen. 

When Nansen had disembarked and entered a carriage 
to be driven home, the people were so excited that they 
dashed forward, unharnessed the horses from the carriage, 
and seizing the pole, drew him in triumph through the 
city. 

The scientific and geographical results of this journey of 
Nansen's were very great. Much valuable knowledge 
was gained concerning the character of the interior of 
Greenland. 



XVII. THE VOYAGE OF THE FRAM 
i 893-1 896 

Nansen »had not been at home very long before he began 
making preparations for a second voyage to the icy North. 
This time he meant to find the North Pole if possible. 

Nansen believed the theory that a current in the Arctic 
ocean passes over the pole. His plan was to work his way 
through the ice to the New Siberia islands, and then allow 
his vessel to be frozen in the ice pack. He believed that 
the vessel would be carried with the drift across the pole, 
to the east coast of Greenland. It was a daring plan, but 
the people of Norway now believed in Nansen and were 
willing to assist him. They gave him an amount equal to 
$75,600 of our money, so that he was able to equip his 
expedition. 

First of all he had a vessel built which would resist ice 
pressures. The hull was shaped so that the pressure would 
raise the vessel up on the ice, instead of crushing her. 
This vessel was called the Fram t a Norwegian word which 
means "onward." Nansen chose his crew, all natives of 
Norway, and made the necessary preparations for the 
voyage. Enough provisions were put on board to last 
five years. Sverdrup, who had been so brave and helpful 
during the trip across Greenland, was chosen to command 
the Fram. 



THE VOYAGE OF THE FRAM 



23 



At last everything was ready, and the day of depar- 
ture arrived. The Fram was lying in Christiania harbor 
when Nansen boarded her (1893). While they were 
still sailing along the coast of Norway, a severe storm 
arose. The sea broke over the rails of the vessel, and 
for a while Nansen feared that the deck cargo would be 




The Launching of the " Fram." 

carried overboard, and that the Fram would meet with 
disaster before she reached the ice. But the storm cleared, 
the sun shone again, and the men had a last glimpse of 
their native land. 

Then a dense fog surrounded the vessel, and she headed 
for the dreaded Kara sea. The Kara sea was filled with 
ice, but the Fram behaved admirably. Nansen said that it 
was a pleasure to take her into difficult ice, because she 
was so strong, and that she turned and twisted as easily as 
a ball on a plate. 

The Fram proceeded along the bleak Siberian coast. One 



124 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



morning a herd of walruses came in sight. Nansen and 
two companions jumped into a boat and went after them. 
One of the men threw a harpoon at the nearest walrus, but 
did not hit him. This proceeding so startled the other wal- 
ruses that they plunged into the water, but not before Nan- 
sen had shot two of them. They rose again around the 




Boat attacked by Walrus. 



boat, bellowing and roaring, and lashing the sea into a foam. 
It seemed likely that the powerful animals would overturn 
the boat or pierce it with their tusks. But no accident 
happened, and Nansen secured several walruses, which 
served as food for the crew. 

By September 25, 1893, they had reached the New Siberia 
islands, where the Fram was unable to push her way far- 
ther, and was soon frozen in the pack. Now there was noth- 
ing to do but to wait. At first the time passed pleasantly 
enough. The men amused themselves by playing games, 



THE VOYAGE OF THE FRAM 



125 



caring for the dogs, taking observations, and making 
various kinds of tools ; but soon they had to bestir them- 
selves, for on October 5, the first severe ice pressure took 
place. 

Nansen was in the cabin chatting with his companions, 
when they heard a terrific noise and felt the ship tremble 
from bow to stern. Every one rushed to the deck to see how 
the Fram would conduct herself. The noise steadily in- 
creased, and the ice cracked on every side. The sea tossed 
the floes, which were from ten to fifteen feet thick, one upon 
another, until immense piles of ice were heaped around. 
The Fram quivered all over and then was lifted gently up. 
After a few moments the uproar had ceased, and the ship 
sank slowly down again into her old position. Nansen was 
delighted, because the Fram had behaved during the nip 
just as he had hoped. Had she not risen and pushed the 
floes down beneath her, she would have been crushed 
among them. 

The autumn passed away pleasantly. Polar bears were 
numerous, and the men enjoyed the sport of hunting them. 
When Christmas (1893) came, the day was celebrated by 
a very good dinner. The men made speeches and gave 
one another Christmas gifts. They did not dream that 
another Christmas would find them still drifting, with the 
knowledge that little headway had been made. 

At last Nansen made up his mind to leave the ship and 
journey by sledge with one of his companions toward the 
North Pole. All the crew set to work to prepare for this 
dangerous trip. The dogs were exercised and trained, 
sledges and kayaks were built, and provisions weighed 
out and packed. The weather was bitterly cold, the wind 
blew fiercely, and ice pressures were increasing in number 
and severity. 



26 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



On January 3, 1895, the Fram encountered the most se- 
vere pressure which she had to meet. The accumulated 
floes formed a ridge of ice which reached to the ship and 
was level with the rails. Masses of ice dashed over the 
decks, and the crashing and grinding were terrible to hear. 




Nansen and Johansen leaving the "Fram. 



Nansen feared that the ship would be crushed, and 
orders were given to put everything in a place of safety. 
But the stanch vessel held her own, and came out of the 
pressure safely. When the danger was over, the Fram was 
found to be uninjured, but one of her sides was buried 
in the ice mound, which reached six feet above the rails. 

About two months later, Nansen set out upon his daring 
trip toward the pole. He took Johansen with him, and 



THE VOYAGE OF THE FRAM 127 

left the Fram f then in latitude 84 north, in command of 
Otto Sverdrup. The journey northward had to be made 
over difficult ice filled with hummocks, and, worse than 
this, a southerly drift set in, which carried the whole pack 
south almost as fast as they traveled north. Many of the 
dogs became utterly exhausted and had to be killed. It 
made Nansen very sad to be obliged to part with the 
faithful animals who had helped him so much. 

At night Nansen and Johansen were so tired that they 
often fell asleep while eating their supper. When they 
crept into their sleeping bags, their clothes were sometimes 
frozen stiff, but the heat of their bodies in their bags thawed 
them out. 

Notwithstanding all these hardships, Nansen and his 
companion succeeded in reaching 86° 14' north latitude on 
April 8, 1895. This was the highest latitude so far reached 
by any explorer. The North Pole was but two hundred 
and sixty-one miles farther north. Nansen knew he could 
not reach the pole through such masses of floes and hum- 
mocks, and accordingly he decided to return, changing his 
course to the south. The travelers found many channels 
between the ice floes, which were difficult to cross. The 
dogs were now so few in number that the men had to do 
dogs' work, and drag the sledges. The ice became soft, 
so that the ski and the sledges sank deep into it. Some- 
times the men sank in up to their armpits. 

Nansen's report of this journey has led many people to 
believe that the warm and the cold ocean currents meet at 
the pole, and that the effect of the united currents is 
to make the ice rotten and dangerous for travel. Some 
explorers believe that it is impossible to travel the last 
hundred miles of the journey toward the pole by sledge 
or boat. They think that the ice is too soft for sledge 



128 THE FROZEN NORTH 

travel, and too compact for travel by boat. If this be 
true, a balloon or airship will have to be used in order 
to reach the pole. It is no wonder that Nansen and 
Johansen became discouraged. 

By June 30, 1895, the two explorers were certain that 
they would have to pass the winter in the ice. Nansen 
knew that he must secure some game, for his provisions 
would not last through the winter ; therefore he and 
Johansen pushed on south as fast as they could, and at 
last shot a seal and a bear. Only two dogs were left, and 
at length they too had to be shot. One dog was Nansen's 
favorite, and the other was Johansen's. Nansen took 
Johansen's dog behind a hummock, and Johansen did 
the same with Nansen's. Then both guns were fired 
together and the faithful dogs were dead. This was the 
hardest thing these two men had to do during the journey. 
When they met again, they felt so sad that neither of them 
could speak. 

One day, while looking through the telescope, Nansen 
saw land in the distance. The two men hastened toward 
it, and for the first time in two years they felt the naked 
earth beneath their feet. It was summer, and seals, birds, 
and flowers were all about them. In front lay the open 
sea, and Nansen thought he might sail on, and perhaps 
reach home. But he was disappointed, for after sailing a 
short distance, he again found ice and was obliged to 
return. 

It was now certain that Nansen and Johansen would 
have to pass the winter on the island, and they began their 
preparations for it. They built a hut of stone, and stretched 
walrus hides over the roof and floor. Fortunately game 
was plenty, so that they shot many seals and walruses. 
The blubber of the walrus was a favorite article of 



THE VOYAGE OF THE FRAM 1 29 

diet, for in cold countries men long for fatty food. It 
was so cold that often Nansen and Johansen had to sleep 
in the same bag in order to keep warm. Sometimes they 
drew pieces of blubber out of the lamp and ate them. 
These favorite dainties they called biscuit. The walrus 
hides attracted the bears and foxes to the hut, so that often 
during the winter the men succeeded in securing fresh 
meat. 

The winter was a long and weary one. Though Christ- 
mas, 1895, found them rather low-spirited, they made up 
their minds to observe the day. Their celebration consisted 
of reversing their shirts, and treating themselves to bread 
and chocolate. They broke up their camp in the spring 
(May, 1896), and started southward by water. 

During this trip Nansen nearly lost his life. The men 
left their kayaks one day fastened to the edge of the ice, 
while they went to the top of a hummock to look around. 
Presently Johansen shouted, "The kayaks are adrift." 
Both men rushed for the water, and Nansen, reaching it 
first, jumped in and swam for the boats. The water was 
terribly cold and the boats had drifted a long distance, but 
Nansen knew that the loss of the boats meant death to him 
and his companion. He swam as long as he could, and 
then lay on his back and floated, to rest. Again he tried 
to swim, but his limbs became stiff and numb so that he 
could scarcely move them. Feebly he pushed on until he 
succeeded in grasping a ski which was lying across the 
bow, and so drawing the kayak to him. It was almost 
more than his chilled and weary body could accomplish to 
pull himself into one of the boats and paddle back. Johan- 
sen, who was anxiously watching, expected every moment 
to see his companion sink down unconscious. But Nan- 
sen's iron will and strength conquered. Johansen gave 



130 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Nansen a warm drink, and put him to bed in his sleeping 
bag. 

Two days later Nansen went walrus hunting, and had 
another narrow escape. One of the walruses stuck his 
tusks through the side of the kayak and nearly upset it, 
but Nansen struck the walrus with the paddle until he 
loosed his hold and swam away. 

Shortly after this adventure, Nansen was one day stand- 
ing on a hummock, looking round over the vast desert of 
snow, ice, and rock. Suddenly he heard a sound like the 
bark of a dog, and then something very like the report 
of a gun. He shouted to Johansen, who called back that 
he heard nothing. Nevertheless, Nansen resolved to go 
in the direction of the sound, and find out what it was. 
Off he started over the hummocks. After traveling some 
distance he came upon the footprints of an animal. It 
might have been the track of a fox or a wolf, but it looked 
strangely like the track of a dog. Then Nansen distinctly 
heard a dog barking in the distance. Very soon he heard 
a human voice also. Wild with excitement and joy, he 
mounted a hummock and shouted at the top of his 
lungs. 

An answering shout started him off at full speed in the 
direction from which it came. Amid a sea of hummocks, 
Nansen soon saw the figure of a man, followed by a dog. 
The two men walked toward each other, waving their hats. 
When they met they shook hands, and after they had 
exchanged a few words the stranger looked sharply at 
Nansen, and said, " Are you not Nansen ? " 

"Yes, I am." 

" By Jove ! I am glad to meet you." 

The two shook hands again and again. The stranger 
was Jackson, the English Arctic explorer, and his ship, the 



THE VOYAGE OF THE FRAM 131 

Windward, was expected every day. Jackson told Nansen 
that the land on which he stood was Franz Josef land. 

Jackson then sent a man to bring Johansen to his camp, 
and soon both he and Nansen were enjoying the comforts 
of civilized life. After fifteen months of blubber and 
bear meat, it was a welcome change to eat the food of 
white men, to sleep in beds, to read newspapers and books, 
and to have a change of clothing. 

It was arranged that Nansen and Johansen should sail 
with Jackson on the Windward for Norway. The ship 
arrived July 26, and August 7, under a favorable wind, the 
whole party embarked. 

A pilot boarded the vessel when she reached the coast 
of Norway, and when he found that Nansen was a pas- 
senger, he was amazed. The pilot told Nansen that every- 
body thought him dead, for the Fram had not been heard 
from. Nansen assured him that the Fram was safe, for he 
felt sure that Sverdrup would bring the vessel home. 

Immediately after landing, Nansen and Johansen went 
to a telegraph office, where they sent many dispatches, so 
that the wonderful news of their return was soon received 
over all parts of the civilized world. 

Nansen had succeeded in reaching latitude 86° 14/, 
farther north than any other explorer had yet attained, 
and had returned safely. Millions of people rejoiced, and 
Nansen's name was upon every tongue. 

At Hammerfest, Nansen met his wife and Sir George 
Baden-Powell, who had been on the point of sending out 
an expedition in search of him. But Nansen's heart was 
heavy in the midst of all the rejoicing, for no news had 
been heard from the Fram, and although he had perfect 
confidence in Otto Sverdrup, he began to fear that harm 
had befallen his brave comrades. 



132 THE FROZEN NORTH 

One morning he was awakened by Sir Baden-Powell 
knocking at his door. " Come down immediately," said 
Sir Baden ; " a man wishes to see you." Nansen hurriedly 
dressed and ran below. 

There stood the manager of the telegraph office. The 
manager handed Nansen a telegram, which he opened 
with trembling fingers. It read as follows : — 

" Fram arrived in good condition. All well on board. 
Am going to Tromso. Welcome home. O. S." 

Nansen nearly fainted with excitement and relief from 
his terrible anxiety. Sir Baden shouted with joy. Johan- 
sen smiled until his face looked like a full moon. As 
soon as the good news of the Fram's return became 
known, the general rejoicing in Hammerfest spread to 
all parts of the world. 

Nansen's daring expedition to the North had ended suc- 
cessfully, and without the loss of a single life. Although 
Nansen had not reached the pole, he had come within 
two hundred and sixty-one miles of it. This was two 
hundred miles nearer than any previous explorer had 
penetrated. The theory of . the southeast current was 
proved to be correct, for the F7'am had drifted into a 
high latitude, and then out into the Atlantic between 
Spitzbergen and Greenland. If the Fram had entered 
the ice pack three hundred miles farther east, Nansen 
believes that she would have drifted in a course parallel 
to the one she actually followed. This course would have 
carried her over the pole. 



XVIII. PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 

1891-1897 

While Nansen was busily exploring, Robert E. Peary, a 
civil engineer in the United States Navy, determined to 
make an attempt to cross the inland ice of Greenland. 
Peary was making his plans for this journey when the 
news came that Nansen had succeeded in crossing the ice 
cap from the eastern coast of Greenland to the western. 

Upon hearing this, Peary changed his plans and decided 
to try to reach the northern point of Greenland overland. 
This journey would take him across the inland ice by a 
route much farther north than that taken by Nansen. It 
would also enable Peary to discover whether Greenland 
was a continent, as many supposed, or merely an island. 

Funds for the trip were raised by private contribution 
through the efforts of Lieutenant Peary's friends, and on 
June 6, 1 89 1, the expedition sailed from Brooklyn on the 
steamer Kite. Peary had already made one trip to Green- 
land, and his friends waved their farewells cheerfully, feel- 
ing certain that he would succeed in his undertaking. 

After a pleasant voyage, the Kite reached Upernavik, 
where she anchored. Peary hoped to secure the services 
of an interpreter at this place, but he was unable to do so. 
Soon the party set sail again, leaving behind them the 
northernmost town on the globe. The Kite steamed 
along for some time without meeting much ice, but when 

133 



134 THE FROZEN NORTH 

she entered Melville bay the pack closed round her, and 
the 4th of July found the little vessel snugly frozen in. 

Here she remained for a week, during which the aver- 
age temperature was about 31 F. On July 11, the ice 
separated and the ship began to move. The engines 
were started in a hurry. After forcing a passage through 
a mass of thick ice, the ship was freed and proceeded on 
her journey. 

While the process of ramming the ice was going on, 
Mr. Peary met with an accident. A large cake of ice 
struck the rudder, tearing the wheel from the hands of the 
two men on duty. Peary's leg was caught between the 
iron tiller and the house, and both bones snapped above 
the ankle. The ship's surgeon set the broken leg, and 
Peary recovered rapidly. He was, however, unable to use 
his leg for many weeks. 

Soon the Kite ran into McCormick bay, where a site for a 
house was selected. It was now about the middle of July, 
and the short summer was at its height. The sun was 
bright and warm, and the temperature about like that of 
an April day in the temperate zone. 

The ice still filled the bay, but narrow streams of water 
trickled through in all directions, cutting the ice into great 
pieces which rose and fell with the tide. Little brooks 
ran down the mountains and through the valleys by the 
side of great glaciers, while the snowbirds chirped and 
twittered, enjoying the brief summer time. 

The country around was bright with flowers. Tracks 
of reindeer, foxes, and hares were repeatedly noticed, and 
seals and walruses abounded, so that the party had no fear 
of suffering for want of fresh meat. 

The wood for the house was taken off the ship. In 
order to insure warmth, the walls were made double, with 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 



135 



an air space of ten inches between the outer and inner 
wall. The house was then covered with tarred paper, and 
the inner walls lined with thick, red, Indian blankets. In 
addition, a wind-break of stones, turf, empty barrels, and 
boxes was built around the house. The dwelling was 
roofed with canvas, and in the winter was to be banked 





Setting Fox Traps. 



with snow. When the little building was completed, they 
christened it Red Cliff House, because of the cliffs of sand- 
stone which rose behind it. 

When the stores were safely stowed away within the 
outer wall, the Kite steamed away home, leaving Peary, 
with his wife and his assistants, to spend the winter 
within seven hundred and forty miles of the North Pole. 

Peary and his party were very comfortable and con- 
tented. They enjoyed the crisp air and the bright sun- 



136 THE FROZEN NORTH 

shine, and they liked to watch the beautiful blue-green 
colors in the ice of the glaciers. 

The men hunted, and secured numbers of reindeer skins 
and furs of all sorts. They fished, and explored the sur- 
rounding islands. While on these trips they sometimes 
met Eskimos, who often accompanied them to Red Cliff 
House. Some of the Eskimos came with their dog teams, 
and Peary was always glad to buy the dogs from them. 
By November 7 there were seventeen men, women, and 
children at the camp, and Peary built a large snow hut for 
them to live in. 

Soon the long night began and all hunting came to an end. 
Then the members of the party busied themselves prepar- 
ing for the great journey over the inland ice which Peary 
intended to make in the spring. The reindeer skins were 
stretched and dried and prepared for clothing by the 
Eskimo women. In order to soften the skin so that it 
could be used for clothing, the women folded it once with 
the hair inside. Then they chewed it all along the edge 
until the fold was made pliable. Another fold was then 
made, and treated in the same manner. This process was 
continued until the entire skin had been carefully chewed. 
It was then scraped, and if necessary, the work was 
repeated. It took two of Peary's best workers about a 
day to prepare a large buckskin. The teeth of the Eskimo 
women are often worn down nearly to the gums by doing 
this work. 

Peary himself cut the patterns of the clothes and sleep- 
ing bags, and the Eskimo women did the sewing. Peary's 
men busied themselves in trying to make sledges lighter 
and stronger than anything they had yet found. They 
fashioned ivory and horn braces for the sledges. Some of 
the Eskimo men helped to make ivory rings for the dogs' 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 137 

harness. The Eskimo women chewed and sewed, and 
everybody was busy and happy. 

A large number of Eskimos visited Peary during the 
winter, some coming from a distance of two hundred miles. 
When the white men could not pronounce the queer names 
of the Eskimos, they gave them nicknames. A certain trio 
were known as the Priest, the Smiler, and the Villain. 
The Villain was an entirely harmless Eskimo, whose chief 
failing was his huge appetite. 

On Christmas Day, Peary invited his Eskimo friends to 
dinner. After his own party had partaken of a remark- 
ably good Christmas feast, a fine venison stew was pre- 
pared for the Eskimos. Dr. Cook, the ship's surgeon, saw 
that the guests were clean, to outward appearance at least, 
and a jolly, happy party they were, sitting down at a civil- 
ized dinner table for the first time in their lives. 

The Eskimo men wore sealskin coats and bearskin 
trousers, while the ladies appeared in foxskin jackets and 
trousers. The Villain sat at the head of the table and 
served the repast. The Daisy poured tea in Mrs. Peary's 
place, and conducted herself very gracefully. 

Myah, who was called the white man, insisted upon 
holding both his knife and spoon in his right hand, and 
then using his fingers to carry the food to his mouth. He 
was rude enough to stand up and try to harpoon some 
choice pieces of meat from the stew with his fork. The 
Villain reproved him so gravely that he stopped harpoon- 
ing and turned his attention to his own plate. It is barely 
possible that the Villain was not shocked at the manners 
of Myah, the white man, but that he wanted the choice 
piece of meat himself. 

After the stew they had coffee, candy, and raisins, and 
then the Eskimos and the white men played games together. 



138 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Gradually the long night passed away, and at length it 
was almost time for the sun to appear. Peary had ordered 
an igloo to be built on the ice cap at an elevation of about 
two thousand and fifty feet, so that he might use it when 
he went up to see the sun rise. 

When this igloo was completed, Peary, Dr. Cook, and 
Astrup started out one morning, with provisions and sleep- 
ing bags, in the hope of catching a first glimpse of the sun. 
When they reached the igloo they were very tired. After 
supper they took off their fur clothes, crawled into their 
sleeping bags, and went to sleep. When Peary awoke, the 
fine snow was drifting in his face, and the wind was blow- 
ing a terrific gale. The entrance was blocked with snow, 
and the three men were buried beneath the drifts. 

Peary rolled himself out with great difficulty, and suc- 
ceeded in finding a shovel. Then he and Dr. Cook pulled 
Astrup out, and the three men found themselves on top of 
the drift under which the snow house was buried. ' They 
were without shelter, two thousand feet above sea level, 
while the storm was raging so fiercely that they had to 
shout to one another in order to be heard. 

After a while the snow turned to rain, which froze and 
covered everything with ice. Their heavy outside clothes 
were buried in the snow house, and they were clad only in 
their under garments. If it had not been for the sleeping 
bags, they would have frozen to death, and even as it was, 
their condition was serious. But at length the storm ceased 
and the half-frozen men succeeded in digging out their gar- 
ments. They were obliged to dress in the open air, with the 
wind blowing and the thermometer standing at 3 above zero. 

As soon as they were dressed they started for home, and 
reached Red Cliff House in safety, warm with exercise. 
Here, they were informed, the storm had likewise been 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 139 

terrific. The rain had fallen in torrents, washing away 
the snow covering of the house and soaking through the 
canvas roof. But Red Cliff House was stanchly built and 
stood firm. 




Red Cuff House after the Storm. 

The long Arctic night had passed away with the storm, 
and the western sky was aflame with gorgeous colors ; 
brilliant yellow shaded into pale rose and green. Misty 
lights of purple and green floated over the ice, and the 
storm was forgotten in the beauty of the new day. 

Now that the sun had made its appearance, Peary 
decided to start on his white march over the ice cap. On 
the last day of April three of the party, accompanied by 
five Eskimos, left Red Cliff House with two sledges and 
twelve dogs. Three days later Peary followed with one 
man and a sledge drawn by eight dogs. In a few hours 
he overtook his friends and proceeded with them as far as 



140 THE FROZEN NORTH 

Humboldt glacier, where he asked for volunteers for the 
long trip. All of the men were eager to accompany him, 
but Astrup was chosen for his companion, and the rest of 
the party returned to Red Cliff House. 

Peary and Astrup now began their journey to the 
northern end of Greenland. They slept during the day 
and traveled by night, when the glare of the sun was 
less trying to their eyes. Peary himself went first, leading 
the way. He was followed by three of his best dogs, 
harnessed to a light sledge which carried two hundred 
pounds. These dogs had become so fond of Peary that 
they tried always to keep as near him as possible. They 
needed no driving or urging, but followed him into the 
most dangerous places. In the rear came Astrup, with 
ten dogs attached to the big sledge which carried the bulk 
of the luggage. 

Peary had thought himself on top of the ice cap at Hum- 
boldt glacier, but he found that he must climb still higher. 
As he ascended the weather became colder, and soon snow 
began to fall. Worse than all, the large sledge broke down, 
but Peary and Astrup mended it and kept on bravely. At 
last the weather grew so cold that the snow froze hard, and 
the two men were able to travel twenty miles a day. 

For weeks Peary and Astrup marched over the great 
ice, through snowstorms and furious wind. Whenever 
fine weather came and the ice became firm and smooth, 
they dashed along, forgetting the hardships they had 
endured. At length Peary saw land in the distance. 
Dark brown and red cliffs, precipices, valleys and moun- 
tains, rivers and lakes, lay stretched out before them. The 
dogs saw land also, and were as delighted as the men. 

This land looked near, but it was not easy to reach. 
Men and dogs slipped and scrambled down the ice crest, 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 141 

through slush and water, over sharp rocks, across streams, 
and through valleys. The sun was very hot, and all the 
travelers felt the change from the clear cold air of the 
inland ice to the heat of the coast region. 

The dogs especially suffered from the heat, and this 
discomfort, together with their need of fresh meat, made 
some of them ill. Pau, the leader of the team, seemed very 
weak, and Peary feared that he would die. Pau was a very 
brave dog, who had killed many polar bears. He must have 
had some knowledge of magic ; at any rate, he was an 
expert in slipping his harness. Whenever he wished to, he 
could slip out and away on a trip of his own in search 
of food. When the other dogs saw Pau free, they tried to 
break their harness and follow him, often with success. 

One day Peary saw two black objects on the opposite 
side of a valley. At first he thought they were large 
rocks, but soon he became certain that they were musk- 
oxen. Peary patted poor Pau's head, as if to tell him that 
he was going to try to get food for him. Pau seemed to 
understand, for his eyes brightened and he wagged his tail. 

Peary took his gun and started off in pursuit of the 
musk-oxen. At last he came very near them, but so much 
depended upon his success that he was seized with trem- 
bling. It required a tremendous effort to point the gun 
and pull the trigger. The enormous ox looked up curiously, 
and walked toward the man, as if to see what the trouble 
was. Peary then took aim, fired, and killed him. The 
other musk-ox tried to run away, but Peary shot him also. 

Astrup and the dogs were frantic with delight. Peary 
patted each dog on the head when he returned, as if to 
assure him of the feast he was to have. Soon the great, 
shaggy musk-oxen were skinned and prepared for food, 
and a huge hind quarter was carried to the dogs. 



142 THE FROZEN NORTH 

The half-starved animals had a royal banquet, and for a 
while nothing could be heard but the crunching of bones, 
and now and then a deep growl. Pau brightened up and 
took his place again as leader, seizing the largest piece of 
meat without any interference from the other dogs. 

Lion was the beautiful leader of the Cape York team. 
His thick fur was snowy white, and his mane long and 
shaggy. Lion knew as much about ice travel as Peary 
himself, and he never got tangled in his traces or tried to 
eat his harness. Upon this occasion, however, Lion actu- 
ally slipped harness. When Peary called him to have it 
replaced, Lion obeyed instantly, crouching obediently at 
his master's feet. 

While Peary was caring for the dogs, Astrup had fash- 
ioned a fur couch from the hides of the musk-oxen, and 
had broiled some delicious musk-ox steaks. That night 
men and dogs fell asleep happy and comfortable. 

After climbing over another slope, the company halted 
on the edge of a high cliff, the northeastern point of Green- 
land. Beyond the mainland they could descry islands in 
the distance. An icebound channel marked the northern 
boundary of Greenland. The large bay spreading out 
before them Peary named Independence bay, in honor 
of the day of discovery, July 4, 1892. The cliff was 
called Navy cliff. A cairn was erected upon Navy cliff, 
and the stars and stripes was unfurled. 

Peary felt well repaid for his weary march. He had 
succeeded in reaching latitude 8i° 37' 5" north; he had 
crossed the great ice cap, and had proved that Greenland 
is an island; he had looked out upon the Arctic ocean 
from a point of land never before reached by civilized 
men ; and he had gained a clear idea of the northern coast 
of Greenland. 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 143 

On the return trip Peary reduced the weight of the 
packs by throwing away those articles which he did not 
expect to need again. On the evening of July 7 the two 
men began the climb up the slope to the inland ice. At 
one time they were eight thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. While they were upon a lofty elevation, a severe 
storm kept them prisoners in a snowdrift for sixty hours. 
Peary and Astrup slept most of the time. When the wind 
died away and they crept out of the drift, dogs and sledges 
had disappeared. These were soon dug out from the snow, 
and the journey was resumed. 

About this time Peary discovered, to his alarm, that a 
quantity of his canned provisions had spoiled, and there 
was danger that he might run short of food. The dogs, 
too, seemed fagged and low-spirited. They pulled away 
in a lifeless manner, with drooping tails and as if they 
were utterly discouraged by this endless journey. So 
many of them died that only five lived to reach home. 
When these five dogs at last scented land, they were filled 
with new life, and dashed merrily along down the slope 
toward McCormick bay. 

One day a number of black spots appeared on the white 
surface of the snow. These spots proved to be people 
from the Kite, which had arrived in the bay and was now 
waiting to carry Peary and his party back to the United 
States. Peary met the new arrivals joyfully, and soon 
all were assembled at Red Cliff House. Great was the 
rejoicing when Peary told of the success of his journey 
over the inland ice. 

The results of this great sledge journey of twelve hun- 
dred miles across Greenland were very important. Green- 
land was proved beyond dispute to be an island. Smaller 
islands free from ice had been discovered north of Green- 



144 THE FROZEN NORTH 

land. A large part of the inland ice had been traversed 
and its character studied. The shores of Inglefield gulf 
and Whale and Murchison sounds had been charted. 
Many glaciers were discovered, and careful observations 
made of the climate and tides. Considerable information 
had been gained concerning a tribe of Eskimos called the 
Arctic Highlanders, heretofore almost unknown. 

In a few weeks preparations began for the return voy- 
age. During the latter part of the summer, Mr. and Mrs. 
Peary and their companions bade farewell to Red Cliff 
House, and sailed for home on the Kite. Together with 
the members of the Red Cliff household who embarked on 
the Kite were the five faithful dogs that had helped to 
carry Peary to Independence bay and back again. Among 
them were Pau and Lion. 

The Kite stopped at Godthaab on her way southward, 
and again at St. John's, Newfoundland. From St. John's 
the vessel was detained by head winds, but at last the 
Delaware breakwater was reached. A short distance 
below Philadelphia the Kite was met by a tugboat, carrying 
a party of Mr. Peary's friends. They were soon on board 
the Kite, listening to the wonderful story of the discoveries 
and adventures of the Arctic travelers. 

In 1893 Peary made another trip to North Greenland, 
and this time remained two years and one month. He 
made a second sledge journey of twelve hundred miles to 
Independence bay, and surveyed a large area of the country 
around Whale sound. During this trip, he also discovered 
the great Cape York meteorites. 

Meteorites are stones, largely composed of iron, which 
fall to the earth from the heavens. They are supposed to 
follow in the train of meteors, or shooting stars. These 
pieces of meteoric iron differ from any kind of rock found 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 145 

upon the earth. They are covered with a thin, brownish 
black crust, and look very different from the iron which we 
obtain from mines. All meteorites are carefully preserved, 
placed in museums, and studied. 

Many Eskimos had already told Peary of the wonderful 
iron mountain near Cape York, but up to this time he had 
been too busy to search for it. Now he found an Eskimo 




GODTHAAB. 

who promised to conduct him to the spot. This Eskimo 
said that he would find three great pieces of iron, the 
smallest about the size of a dog. One was near the water, 
and the other two were upon the side of the mountain. 

With fresh dogs Peary and the Eskimo were soon 
galloping over hard ice toward Cape York. After a long 
journey the Eskimo conducted Peary to the great brown 
mass. 

He told Peary that his people believed that the iron 
mass had been an Eskimo woman, who with her dog and 
her tent was hurled from the sky by the Evil Spirit. One 
of the great piles used to look like the figure of a woman 
in a sitting position, but the natives had chipped off many 



146 



THE FROZEN NORTH 



pieces of it and carried them away. They used these pieces 
of iron for making knives and for harpoon points. 

One tribe attempted to carry off the entire head. They 
iashed it to a sledge and started for home, when suddenly 
the sea rose with a loud noise, and the head disappeared 
into the water, carrying the sledge and dogs with it. The 




The "Tent" Meteorite. 



Eskimos barely escaped with their lives, and since that 
time not the smallest fragment of the heavenly woman had 
been disturbed. 

Near the great mass of iron, called " the woman," was 
another, called "the dog." About six miles south of these 
was the third and largest, called "the tent." 

The coast where these meteorites were found is the 
bleakest and most desolate region of the Arctic land. 
Biting winds blow almost continuously, and iceberg after 
iceberg drifts slowly past on its journey southward. It is 
almost impossible for a vessel to reach this coast. 



PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 147 

Notwithstanding the difficulty and danger of the work, 
Peary succeeded in bringing all of these meteorites to New 
York. Those known as "the woman" and "the dog" 
reached New York in 1895, and on October 2, 1897, the 
Hope deposited the one known as " the tent " at the Brook- 
lyn navy yard. This weighs ninety tons and is the largest 
known meteorite in the world. 

Peary's two trips across Greenland are classed among the 
most brilliant geographical feats of recent years. His 
efforts extended the exploration of the east coast of Green- 
land two degrees. 

In 1899 Peary again visited the Arctic regions. He 
reached Fort Conger in March, 1900, and the next month, 
with his colored servant, Matthew Henson, and five Eski- 
mos, started to explore the northern coast of Greenland. 
He reached Cape Washington, where he erected a cairn, 
and then pushing on, he rounded the northern limit of 
the Greenland archipelago at latitude 83 39' north, from 
which point the coast extended southward. 

At this place, the most northerly known land in the 
world, Peary built a cairn and inclosed records of his trip. 
He then changed the direction of his course and turned 
northward, traveling over sea ice toward the pole. He 
proceeded in this direction until he reached latitude 83 50' 
north, where he found it impossible to continue the journey 
farther. He therefore returned to the Greenland coast, 
and made explorations which enabled him to complete a 
chart of the northern coast of that island. Upon the com- 
pletion of this work he returned to Fort Conger, arriving 
there June 10, 1900, without accident or illness. During 
this trip, the temperature ranged from 20 above to 35 
below zero. 

The winter of 1900 and 1901 was spent at Fort Conger, 



148 THE FROZEN NORTH 

where game was plentiful. The men passed most of their 
time hunting, and succeeded in slaying nearly two hundred 
musk-oxen. 

In the spring of 1901 Peary made a second attempt to 
reach the pole, this time from the northern point of Grin- 
nell land, using Fort Conger as a base. But he was again 
obliged to turn back. Still undismayed, Peary planned to 
make another dash for the pole during the spring of 1902. 
This expedition was also unsuccessful, and Peary returned 
to the United States in the fall of 1902, without having 
discovered the North Pole. But he accomplished valuable 
geographical work, and has added greatly to our knowledge 
of Greenland and Grinnell land. 

Among the important results of Peary's work are : — 

First : The rounding of the northern limit of the Green- 
land archipelago, the most northerly known land in the 
world. 

Second : The attainment of the highest latitude in the 
Western Hemisphere, 83 50' north. 

Third : The discovery of the character of the inland ice. 



XIX. ANDREE'S BALLOON EXPEDITION TO 
THE POLE 

1897 

One of the most hazardous attempts to reach the pole 
was that made by S. A. Andree in his balloon. Andree 
was born in Sweden in 1854, and was carefully educated. 
He became a mechanical engineer, and held an important 
position under the Swedish government. 

In 1876 he visited America to attend the Centennial 
Exposition in Philadelphia. While crossing the ocean he 
noted the regularity of the trade winds, which led him to 
believe that balloon voyages might be made across the 
Atlantic. Some years later Andree passed a winter in 
Spitzbergen, directing experiments and observations in 
atmospheric electricity. This scientific work strengthened 
his belief that a balloon might be navigated through the air 
in much the same manner as a ship through water. 

From this time Andree studied the construction of bal- 
loons with great care, and in 1895 he astonished the world 
by making known his plan to reach the North Pole by 
means of an air route. He needed the sum of $36,000 in 
order to carry out his project. This amount was generously 
provided by King Oscar and two citizens of Sweden. 

Then Andree set about the work of having a balloon 
constructed which would suit his purpose. He went to 
Paris, and secured the services of the most noted balloon 
maker in the world. This man built a balloon for Andree 

149 



150 THE FROZEN NORTH 

which was ninety-seven feet high by sixty-seven feet in 
diameter. It was made of three thicknesses of silk, and 
varnished over twice, inside and out. It was handled by 
means of valves. The whole balloon was covered with a 
network of hemp, ending in forty-eight suspension ropes, 
to which the wooden bearing ring was attached. 

The car, shaped like a cylinder and made of wicker, was 
covered with tarpaulin, and was intended for rest and sleep. 
The place for work and observation was a swinging gallery, 
which also served for the roof of the car. In this gallery 
the scientific instruments were kept. Andree took with 
him thermometers, barometers, cameras, and every sort of 
needful apparatus. The car contained a sleeping bag, and 
stores of books, maps, toilet articles, arms, and ammunition. 
The balloon was built to carry three passengers. While 
one slept, the other two expected to remain on the roof, 
taking observations and guiding the balloon. 

The bearing ring was the main storeroom. Crosspieces 
of wood formed a floor, upon which many necessary arti- 
cles were packed. Boats, sledges, sails, ropes, and provi- 
sions of all kinds were stored away in forty-eight large 
sacks, which were hung to the bearing ring. Andree had 
provisions enough to last for nine months, and everything 
was packed so as to occupy as little space as possible. 

Three sails and three guide ropes were arranged to 
aid in steering the balloon. The long guide ropes trailed 
behind the balloon, serving the purpose of a rudder. The 
sails caught the wind, increased the speed, and permitted 
change of direction. 

In 1896, the balloon and all the supplies were taken to 
Dane's island, near Spitsbergen, but as the desired south 
wind did not blow, Andree returned to Sweden. In May, 
1897, Andree and his companions again went to Dane's 



ANDREE'S BALLOON EXPEDITION TO THE POLE 151 

island. A balloon house was built, engines were set up 
for producing hydrogen gas, and in due time the balloon 
was inflated. By July 1 everything was ready. 

Andree and his two companions now waited anxiously 
for a south wind, which they believed would blow them to 
the North Pole. They waited ten days, until, on the morn- 
ing of July 11, 1897, a strong, steady wind from the south 
was blowing. 




Andree begins his Journey. 



Great was the excitement on Dane's island when the 
men began to tear down the house where the balloon was 
imprisoned, and attach the car. At 2.30 p.m., July 11, 
1897, Andree and his two companions, Nils Strindberg 
and Knut Fraenkel, jumped into the car, and gave orders 
to cut the last ropes. 

Slowly the immense, airy structure rose to a height of a 
few hundred feet, and sailed in a northerly direction out 



152 THE FROZEN NORTH 

over Dane's gate. Then it dropped suddenly, as if it had 
received a current of air from above, and almost touched 
the sea. Andree threw out some sand bags, when the 
balloon rose again to a height of about three thousand 
feet, and sailed away in the same northerly direction. 
About an hour after the start, it was lost to sight in the 
clouds. 

Some days later a carrier pigeon was shot in the rigging 
of an Arctic schooner off Spitzbergen. The pigeon had 
a message from Andree tied under its wing. The message 
was dated July 13, and stated that the balloon sailed 
one hundred and forty-five geographical miles to the north- 
ward, and then headed east. It had traveled forty-five 
miles eastward when the pigeon was sent out. 

From that day to this, no other message has been 
received from Andree. Andree believed that his balloon 
would float for six weeks, but the men who watched the 
start, said that it lost much gas and much ballast before it 
passed out of sight. They thought that it might have 
floated about fifteen days. Two thirds of the guide ropes, 
upon which Andree depended, for steering, were also lost 
at starting. At first the balloon traveled about twenty- 
five or thirty miles an hour. At this rate of speed, sailing 
northward, Andree should have reached the pole in less 
than two days. But every ray of sunshine, every puff of 
colder or warmer wind, cause a balloon to rise or fall, and 
the methods of guiding and handling the delicate appli- 
ance are not yet thoroughly understood. 

No one knows what happened to the balloon after it rose 
out of sight of the men on Dane's island. For several 
years Andree's friends refused to believe that he had 
perished. They thought that he might be wandering 
about in the Frozen North in the care of some of the 



ANDREE'S BALLOON EXPEDITION TO THE POLE 153 

Eskimo tribes. Many stories have reached us from time 
to time bearing upon the fate of Andree, but upon investi- 
gation they have all proved to be false. The only authen- 
tic trace which has been found is a buoy picked up 
northeast of Spitzbergen in 1899. This buoy was taken 
to Sweden, and proved to be the one which Andree had 
taken with him for the purpose of dropping it, with a 
letter, in case he crossed the pole. No letter was found. 
but an anchor was attached to the buoy. This led to the 
supposition that the buoy and anchor were thrown out to 
lighten the balloon and keep it afloat a while longer, or 
else that the balloon had been lost in the sea and the buoy 
and anchor had drifted away. 

It is now generally believed that Andree and his two 
companions lost their lives through the descent of the bal- 
loon into the ocean. 



XX. EXPEDITIONS OF 1902 

During the spring of 1902, several expeditions were at 
work in the Northern regions, each hoping to be the first 
to reach the pole. 

One of the most important was the Ziegler-Baldwin 
expedition, equipped by Mr. William Ziegler of New 
York, and commanded by Mr. Evelyn Briggs Baldwin. 
This was the largest and probably the best equipped 
expedition sent out. Baldwin had two ships, four hundred 
Eskimo dogs, and fifteen Siberian ponies. His flagship, 
the America, was a stoutly built whaler and carried a 
cargo of six hundred tons. His other ship, the Fridtjof, 
carried the scientific instruments. 

Through the generosity of Mr. Ziegler, practically per- 
fect scientific apparatus accompanied the expedition, and 
Mr. Baldwin was assisted by experts in geographical chart- 
ing, geology, botany, and meteorology. Both the America 
and the Fridtjof reached Franz Josef land, but very little 
significant work was accomplished. Instead of wintering 
in the North as had been planned, Mr. Baldwin returned 
to Norway. Mr. Ziegler, however, has not faltered in his 
determination to find the pole, and he has sent out another 
expedition for that purpose which is now in the North. 

A Russian expedition excited widespread interest. Ad- 
miral Marakoff constructed an ice-breaking steamship, and 

iS4 



EXPEDITIONS OF 1902 1 55 

with it expected to force his way through the ice to the 
pole. The steamer is called the Ermack, and is a very 
powerful ship, able to stand fifteen times the strain which 
may safely be brought to bear upon the average steel 
ship. In breaking the ice, the Ermack rises upon it and 
crushes it down. The forward propeller sucks away the 
water underneath the ice, and thus reduces the resistance. 

Admiral Marakoff believed that the ice near the pole 
was thin, and that his ship would be able to steam directly 
to that long-sought-for goal. Rut in battling against the 
wide and heavy ice floes of the Arctic ocean, the Ermack 
proved a failure. It is said, however, that she made five 
successful trips between Nova Zembla and Franz Josef 
land. 

Another expedition, the progress of which was watched 
with interest, was that of the Duke of Abruzzi, who is 
cousin to the king of Italy. He started for the North 
Pole in the Stella Polare, in 1899. In the spring of 1900, 
he succeeded in arriving within 239.15 statute miles of the 
pole. This record surpassed Nansen's by twenty-three 
miles, and is, therefore, the best yet made. 

It is said that Abruzzi and Nansen will join in command 
of an expedition which will start from Franz Josef land. 
Both men have done valuable work in the icy North, 
and important results are expected from their united 
efforts. 

Captain Bernier, a French Canadian, planned to enter 
the Arctic by way of Bering strait. He expected then to 
travel over the route taken by the Jeannette. Bernier 
hoped to be carried near the pole by the ice drift. When 
he had reached a suitable place, he intended to leave his 
ship and proceed to the pole by means of dog sledges, 
reindeer sledges, and boats. The newly invented system 



156 THE FROZEN NORTH 

of wireless telegraphy was to be used by Captain Bernier, 
as a means of communication with his ship. 

Captain Otto Sverdrup, in command of the Fram, was 
already in the North in 1902. Sverdrup won his spurs, 
you will remember, while on the famous Nansen expedi- 
tion. He was sent out by the Norwegian government to 
explore the northern coast of Greenland, and to connect 
Peary's work on the east coast with that of a German 
expedition on the west coast. 

Robert Stein's expedition had not the proper equipment 
to seek the pole, but was designed for the exploration of 
Ellesmere land. Stein returned without accomplishing 
much valuable work. 

A novel plan has been announced by Dr. Anschutz 
Kampfe. Dr. Kampfe proposes to build a submarine 
boat, and proceed to the pole beneath the ice. 

For more than three hundred years, men have struggled 
to reach the North Pole. They have braved bitter winds 
and faced starvation and death, in order to wrest the secrets 
of nature from the great white North. 

Since Sir John Franklin's first trip to the Arctic regions, 
interest in the Frozen North has never flagged. Very grave 
doubts as to the wisdom of spending so large sums of 
money and of risking so many human lives have arisen 
in the minds of those who have followed the story of suf- 
fering and death. It is natural in this century, when men 
are counting the cost of every project, to ask wherein lies 
the advantage of exploring the polar country, since the 
work is in every case so difficult, so dangerous, and in 
many cases fatal. But we may feel sure that the work 
will never cease until every part of the Frozen North is 
known. 

Beyond the additions to our store of meteorological 



EXPEDITIONS OF 1902 1 57 

knowledge, and of botanical and geological facts, there 
has been a decided addition to the world's wealth by Arc- 
tic exploration : not in money, but in character ; not in 
conquest, but in heroism ; not in material success, but in 
those experiences which make men strong and enduring. 
The world is already richer in mines and money than it is 
in men of courage and in high acts of duty and bravery. 
Thrilling deeds, glorious perseverance, and unwearied 
patience are the noblest fruits of Arctic exploration. 



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